The Armpit of Drabbles
by Ornstein the Dragon Slayer
Summary: This is where they all go. Where they all go to when they are deemed undesirable or simply because their god has lost interest. Perhaps they will be revived, perhaps not. Perhaps a random peddler will come and take them away. I'll see what else I got in my old files as well... but no promises that I have all of them.
1. Red Crucible

**NA: Decided to redo The Fox and the Snow Angel, some similarities but there will be more differences. Just so all you know I am probably one of the largest AK fan out there, I just love the ruggedness, the reliability and the fact that it is the kind of weapon that is least likely to break.**

 **Sort of got some ideas from a really fun browser game in Kongregate called Contract Wars, for once I am actually enjoying a well-made browser game and I am pleased that it is coming to Steam.**

 **~oOo~**

 **Year 2025**

 **Earth**

 **Somewhere in the Caucasus Mountains of Chechnya**

A lone young man in Russian oak BDU sat on the ridge overlooking a valley. He just sat there with his AK-105 assault rifle sitting on his lap. Behind his head was a lowered ghillie hood. Beside him was a zipped up rifle bag in the same camouflage pattern, housing what appeared to be a high powered sniper rifle. On his shoulder was an insignia of a Russian brown bear with knife in the middle, below it was the Russian Cyrillic word for 'Bear'.

Down in the valley below was a devastated town that had just seen its taste of war. Houses burning and buildings torn asunder while soldiers fought. Chechnya had once again become a battleground, the Third Chechen War.

The war inevitable, with the Islamic states wanting a hold on the small country that Russia refuses to give, it was only a matter of time until hostilities commenced. Even with the fight against the Islamic extremists, the west would always find a way to antagonize the Russian Bear for going to war. Even decades after the Cold War some scars just refuse to go away. But it didn't really matter, terrorists were threatening to throw Eastern Europe into chaos and the Russians responded in kind.

But this was just the beginning.

Greece's final complete economic collapse triggered a chain reaction that threw Europe into chaos. Bulgaria took the worst of it – as the Bulgarian Greek-owned banks collapsed with Greece. The entire region was swept into a maelstrom of havoc, ruining countless lives and destroying any semblance of a status quo, but providing opportunities for those unscrupulous enough to exploit the situation. The remnants of the European Union were paralyzed by the growing gap between the governments and their people, and violent anti-government protests became commonplace, giving birth to numerous anarchist movements. Weapon caches from the crumbling governments of the third-world became the armories of the insurgencies.

In the Middle East, the Syrian crisis spilled into the entire region, shattering Syria into multiple warring regions with Kurdish militias attempting to carve their own territories out of the chaos, frequently clashing with Turkish forces in a conflict that rapidly became a full-blown civil war.

As Europe reeled from these blows, the newly elected American president decided to turn towards isolationism by bringing home most of the troops serving abroad, fearing "another Iraq" would happen if the American soldiers were further involved in the Middle East. This was supported by new technologies that allowed the Americans to be energy independent. The new American strategy of providing military support to U.S.-friendly countries relied heavily on the use of American-backed PMC's, as demonstrated by the 2018 War of the Precipice between Israel and its neighbors. This strategy had major repercussions, leading to the loss of direct influence in many parts of the world, especially South America. This in turn led to the rise of the Alianza de Sangre, a multi-national criminal drug cartel that gradually gained direct control over a large part of Mexico and Central America. The cartel funded guerrillas all across South America, starting multiple civil wars and profiting immensely from the turmoil. Most South American governments – aside from Chile and Argentina – were powerless to stop this well-funded criminal organization without assistance, and lawlessness south of the American border gave rise to many American nationalist militias that gradually gained influence across the South.

Asia's largest superpower, China, entered the late2010's with a series of economic spasms caused by currency fluctuations, oil shortages and increased separatist tendencies in several of its regions. China put policies in place that bordered on martial law, with extensive crackdowns and brutal methods of control, and managed to keep the situation in hand, but just barely.

In Europe, NATO, now in decline, was put to test for the first time in years as nationalist guerrillas appeared in Estonia. The entire Baltic region plummeted into conflict and the chronically underfunded NATO was petitioned to respond. Due to the lack of resources, lack of American backing and fear of starting another global war, armed response was vetoed and NATO for all intents and purposes ceased to exist as an effective structure by 2020.

The global tensions also spurred violence on the Indian-Pakistani border. Amidst the chaos, five nuclear warheads were stolen from the Pakistani complex at Khushab and one of them was detonated in the Indian city of Hyderabad, leading to the death of millions and to staggering economic losses. The world held its breath, waiting for someone to step forward and announce they were responsible for the attack. This announcement never happened, and the unexplained, senseless violence of this heinous crime served as the final wake-up call for the nations to act.

Weakened by insurgency and internal strife, the world's powers – China, the European Union, Russia and the United States, came together to discuss how to fight the new multi-national threats. After extensive negotiations, a treaty was signed that would change the world forever.

The treaty stipulated that the internal affairs of all the countries participating in the talks would be left to their own militaries, but major threats to entire regions or continents would be handled by a newly formed independent international body: the International Security Department. The ISD would use Private Military Companies, freely formed according to the principle of extraterritoriality. The ISD would dictate the operations of the PMC's but in return would support them both logistically and politically. Each PMC would be established with its own rules (ranging from ragtag bands of mercenaries to private armies equipped with modern weaponry) but they all would have to adhere to the ISD code, lest they become branded as renegades and prosecuted (de facto by other PMCs).

The size of the PMC's could vary from small bands of mercenaries to entire brigades or divisions and their equipment was just as varied – from antiquated vehicles mothballed even by third world militaries to cutting edge machines, purchased from those arms dealers approved by the ISD. For these dealers the contract with the ISD was very beneficial: for their promise not to supply anyone considered to be the enemy of the ISD, the authorities tended to look the other way when it came to the means the dealers employed when "acquiring" their stock. The most successful of these dealers signed exclusive contracts with the largest private forces, making them some of the richest men and women on Earth.

Unfortunately this system brought its own pitfalls with it. Cases of mercenary units going rogue or switching sides were not uncommon, and for years it took the combined might of the ISD and the loyalists to crush such rebels completely and to make examples of them. Nevertheless, the system has proven effective and by2030 the PMC's were already the dominant and, in reality, only force capable of dealing with major crises in contested regions.

BEAR was one such group, the same group this blonde young man works for.

As for the blonde, he was a complete mystery, an enigma. Some of the BEAR operators claimed he came out of nowhere when they found him in the fiery rubble of a destroyed village in southern Chechnya in the Caucasus. But what shocked them the most was his natural ability to manipulate wind, using it like a blade. The day they found him he was hysterical. He kept on muttering about a place called Remnant and Atlas, they all assumed he was just shell shocked due to the war, but the more he demonstrated his abilities and described his home, the more they believed his farfetched tale. He didn't even look Chechen, he looked more like a mix of Caucasian and Asian. Even his name was Asian… a Japanese name to be precise.

All he remembered was an explosion engulfing the building he was in and next thing he knew he was there. He knew how to fight, he says that his parents taught him since he was very young. All the BEARs were impressed with his skill with a blade, but in this day and age a blade alone won't do, so they taught him the tools of the trade, how to shoot, and of course how to speak, read, and write in Russian. BEAR after all is a Russian-backed mercenary group. They weren't large but most of them were made up of former special forces operators with years of experience.

He was a natural with a gun, whether it be a pistol, a submachine gun, an assault rifle, or a snipe rifle. He learned quickly and fit right in.

He was their cub, Misha, a fitting nickname as they were all bears and it meant bear cub in their tongue.

Misha lamented that he might never be able to go back, so he had to do what he needed to do, survive in this harsh and dark world.

He had been in the mercenary and a part of the BEARS for three years now, and he sees no sign of any end to the wars being waged around the world.

 **Red Crucible**

 **Chapter 1: Lament**

 **World of Remnant**

 **Somewhere in a Cemetery**

Weiss Schnee approached a gravestone with flowers in her hand. Her face solemn and had a look of longing. Kneeling down she set the beautiful bouquet of flowers by the gravestone and smiled.

"Hi Naruto… it's me again, here to see you like I do all the time."

She knew she wasn't going to get a reply from anyone but it at least made her feel better that she does. She had been going to the cemetery every few months just to see her beloved again.

"Things have been going great." She began as she spoke while the soft autumn wind touched her face. "I made new friends by the way! They're a bit of a handful at times but they're really good. There's Ruby, the youngest of the group, she's also the leader of our team, although she can be a bit childish at times. Then there's Yang, Ruby's older sister and a shameless pervert at times, I bet if she and Jiraiya met they'd get along just fine. And finally there is Blake, she's a cat Faunus and someone I am still trying my hardest to get along with, although things are going well for the most part and we are friends. Together we make Team RWBY."

The wind blew again and it made her feel even more alone, only finding this gravestone to be her only real comfort.

"Do you remember the day we first met? You probably didn't know this but… it was the best day of my life."

 **~oOo~**

 **Eleven Years Ago**

 **Namikaze Manor, Kingdom of Atlas**

A seven year old Weiss Schnee stood with her thirteen year old sister Winter as their parents took them to a beautiful home near the mountains of Atlas. Their father was the head of the famous Schnee Dust Company, a company known for its controversy of mistreating the race of Faunus. They entire Schnee family were invited to dinner with the Namikazes in their home. Said family was part of the Namikaze corporation, an industrial corporation for creating weapons that huntsmen and huntresses use today to battle the dark creatures known only as the grimm.

"So glad for all of you to come!" Minato Namikaze, founder and CEO of the Namikaze Corporation greeted the Schnees with his wife Kushina, their eldest daughter Mito and their youngest son Naruto. "Welcome."

Mister Schnee smiled gracefully and shook the blonde man's hand. "Thank you for having us, Minato."

"We're just glad you three could make it, again so sorry what happened to your wife."

"It was her time." The Schnee patriarch said with a sad smile as he looked at his daughters. "They're all I have left. She will be missed."

"Hi!"

Weiss nearly jumped in surprise at Naruto's sudden greeting when he approached her. She hid behind her older sister's legs while still staring at the smiling blonde.

"I'm Naruto!"

Weiss looked at her father who was smiling down at her. "Well Weiss? Aren't you going to say hello?"

The white haired girl looked a little nervous but then straightened herself. "I-I'm W-Weiss."

"Come on!" the energetic blonde grabbed hold of the girl's hand and led her up the stairs, "I have a lot of cool stuff in my room!"

"W-Wait!"

The parents then smiled at the interaction. "Well it seems both are children are now friends, although Naruto can be a bit forward at times."

"It's fine." Mister Schnee said as he waved his hand. "Weiss does need to get out of her shell. She doesn't have that many friends, even in school."

The Namikaze couple then led the rest of the guests into the living room while the servants prepared dinner. Mito went to her best friend Winter and both started chatting about school, boys, and of course becoming huntresses.

"And look at this!" Naruto exclaimed as he picked up an action figure. "I just got this for my birthday from granny Tsunade, she's my godmother by the way."

Weiss didn't know what to make of this as this boy in front of her was talking a hundred miles an hour. It was wonder how he wasn't out of breath yet. She just sat there on the small chair while listening to the blonde, she couldn't find herself to speak as she was incredibly shy, even in school she found it hard to make friends due to who she was and who her father was. The Schnee Dust Company was a very powerful company here in Atlas.

"Hey." Naruto stopped for a moment and saw the white haired girl playing with her fingers. "Aren't you going to say something? This stuff is really cool!"

"H-Huh?" Weiss looked at the boy shyly.

The blonde boy looked at his action figure and offered it to her. "You wanna play, it's really fun, I also have lots and lots of video games!"

"Y-You want to play with me?"

He nodded vigorously and smiled.

"Why?"

"We're friends right?"

"F-Friends?"

He nodded once more and gently placed the action figure on the girl's lap. "Yeah, we're friends! And friends play with each other! Now come on, we can play video games if you like."

They were friends now? Was making friends really this easy? She couldn't believe it, she made a friend.

She nodded her head and smiled a little, happy that she finally made a friend. "Okay… let's play."

 **~oOo~**

 **Present Time**

"You were my first and only friend back then." Weiss said while she fixed the flowers so that they looked proper. "Always hanging out after school, going to the movies, the arcade… I remember the time you saved that kitten."

 **~oOo~**

 **Five Years Ago**

"Naruto, be careful!" Weiss looked at her best friend with concern as he climbed a tree. On the branch was a small kitten that somehow got up there. Beside the white haired girl was an even younger girl who also happened to be the owner of the kitten.

"It's all good…" the blonde said as he slowly crawled his way up the brunch to get the cat. "Come on buddy, come over here."

The kitten simply mewled, obviously afraid of the boy who was slowly approaching it.

"Come on little guy, I can't hold this for much longer." The branch began to crack, causing Weiss to call out for him.

"Naruto!"

"I know!"

The branch cracked once more and the wood began to bend downwards. Naruto had no time to waste and immediately went for the kitten and grabbed it.

"NARUTO!" Weiss watched in horror as her best friend fell.

The blonde grunted in pain as he landed on his back with the kitten safe in his arms. Both the girls ran up to him with worry in their eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" he said and grinned while holding up the little ball of fur, "And so is this guy."

"Mister Mittens!" the little girl took the cat and gently hugged it, "Thank you mister."

"Anytime kid." Naruto chuckled and let out a sigh as he rested his head on the grass. "Urgh…"

"You dolt!" Weiss bonked him on the head, earning her a yelp.

"Ah what the hell woman!"

"You could have gotten seriously hurt there!" The Schnee heiress vehemently said.

"Oh…" Naruto grinned at her. "So you were worried about me, huh?"

"W-Wha..." Weiss started to blush and turn around and denied his accusation. "N-No I wasn't!"

"Oh no…" the blonde sat right up and looked at her with his dreamy blue eyes, "Yes you were."

"Shut up you idiotic dolt!"

"Hey Weiss?"

"What now?" She huffed at him and now saw that he was looking at her seriously. "What?"

"Let's go on a date… tonight."

"Eh?"

 **~oOo~**

 **Present Day**

Weiss let out a laugh at the fond memory. "I really can't believe you asked me out like that. So unromantic, but then again you were always so forward. How could I say no to that face?"

She looked at the gravestone and bit her lip as a lone tear went down her face. Another memory surfaced.

 **~oOo~**

 **Five Years Ago**

"Oh I'm so happy!" Kushina exclaimed as she looked at the new couple. "I can already see it! Grandbabies for me to spoil, dattebane!"

"MOM!" Naruto hissed at his mother as his cheeks reddened.

"I-It's too early for that!" Weiss said with equally red cheeks.

Kushina giggled sinisterly at the two. "I didn't hear a no…"

All the couple could do was blush as the red head began coming up with possible names for her future grandchildren, even so much as coming up with ideas for the wedding and all.

As for Weiss, she had coming over to the Namikaze manor more and more, her father had closed himself off from the rest of the family as he had drowned himself in his work. The rise of the violent actions of the White Fang had led to him snapping at his daughters more often than she could count. At times she would hear her older sister Winter arguing with him that he needs to spend more time with them. It also came to the point that Weiss would just avoid them altogether and just came here where she at least felt like she had a family.

"Um… Miss Kushina?"

"Yes dear?" the mother snapped out of her daze and looked at the girl who was now looking nervous.

"Is it alright if I stay over? I just…"

"It's your father isn't it?"

She nodded shamefully as her boyfriend held her hand. Kushina on the other hand just smiled, in truth Weiss had become like a second daughter to her ever since she and Naruto had become fast friends.

"Of course you can stay, honey. You're always welcome here. You're family after all."

Weiss bit her lip and nodded with happy tears in her eyes. "Thank you!"

"You can take the bed." The blonde said as the two were now in his room. He placed a sleeping cot down on the floor beside the bed.

"A-Are you sure?"

He looked at her and smiled a loving smile. "I'm sure. Besides, you're our guest of honor, it's only proper that you take the bed."

Weiss stifled a laugh. "Proper? Since when were you proper?"

"Hey." Naruto pouted at the joke his girlfriend made. "I can be proper, I just… choose not to."

She just gave him 'the look' with a raised eyebrow. "Uhuh."

"Whatever…" He immediately lay down on his cot. "Night Weiss."

"Night…" She mumbled as she lay there on the bed, staring at the ceiling. A few seconds passed and she felt a little uneasy. Turning to where her boyfriend was sleeping she called out to him. "Naruto?"

"Mm?"

"Can you come up here and sleep with me?"

"What?" he sat up with a look of shock on his face, "People can get the wrong idea with that kind of question ya' know?"

Weiss just gave him a pleading look, as if she was scared of something. "Please?"

Naruto looked at her understood what she was feeling right now. Letting out a sigh he grabbed his pillow and slipped under the comforter of the bed and scooted close to her. "There… happy?"

She nodded happily and pecked him on the cheek. "Night Naruto."

He could not help but smile and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight Weiss."

 **~oOo~**

 **Present Day**

Her knees were now curled up to her chin as she hugged them while staring at the gravestone. Her cheeks were now marked with dried tears and numerous emotions that were still inside her. It was supposed to be a date, just like any other, one that was supposed to be filled with happiness and love. But they came in and ruined it.

"Oh Oum… why?"

 **~oOo~**

 **Three Years Ago**

The two were now fifteen, and they had been together for two years now. Today was their anniversary, and Naruto wanted to make it special. He had decided to take her out to a nice restaurant, possibly one of the most expensive restaurants in the world as only the wealthiest could afford it. But because it was their anniversary Kushina was more than happy to help so long as it would mean they were one step closer to matrimony.

"Honestly, mom has no tact."

"Sort of like you? I mean you do take after her."

Naruto could only look at his giggling girlfriend for two years with a deadpanned look. "Oh haha, very funny."

The two were quite well-dressed for the evening as they were going into a fancy restaurant.

"Ah, Mr. Namikaze." The restaurant's manager bowed at the couple. "Your table is right this way."

The two got a beautiful spot in the restaurant as it was high up in a very high class hotel. The table they got was by a window that overlooked the beautiful valley of the mountains of Atlas. Weiss honestly felt genuinely special, not like the way her family servants would treat her or the way the public would as she was the heiress of the Schnee family fortune. She like a normal person whenever she was with him, but most of all she felt loved.

As they ate their dinner, Naruto actually ordered a bottle of the finest Atlesian wine there is and poured a glass for each of them. "I know we're underage but I wanted to make this special, just one glass. A toast… to us, and our future."

"To us" Weiss raised her glass and gently touched the other. The gentle ringing sound was made as they drank. Tonight was just perfect for her.

After the dinner the happy couple made their way down into the city after they had a change of clothes. While formal clothing made them look good, it would be impractical to simply keep wearing them, especially when their next destination was the carnival that was currently in the city for the rest of the month. They walked hand in hand past the busy attractions filled with people enjoying themselves, a cone of cotton candy in her other hand and a bright smile on her beautiful face.

"So…" Naruto began as they walked, "…enjoying yourself?"

She nodded happily and kissed him on the cheek. "Yes."

He then wrapped his arm around her as a response to her little kiss on the cheek and pulled her closer while they kept walking. "Well then I'm glad."

The went through different attractions, duck shooting, go carts, bumper cars, and of course the Ferris wheel. They enjoyed themselves to the fullest as tonight was a special night for them.

"You know… this is actually my first time going to a carnival."

"What?" his eyebrows rose at her words, "You mean your old man didn't take your and your sister to one?"

Weiss sadly shook her head at his question. "Father was always busy. He never had the time to spend any with us. It was always work, work, work. That's why I've been thinking of maybe getting partially involved with the company, it's how I built my Myrtenaster, I went down to our tech labs and forged it there. In the end even my sister became too busy, ever since she and your sister went to Atlas Academy it's just been me in the house. At least I won't hear them argue anymore."

"Hey… come here." He pulled her close and kissed her head. "You won't ever feel alone, you hear? I'll be there for you, every step of the way, I promise. I love you."

She looked up at him with wide teary eyes when she heard those three last words. He finally said it, after two years of being together he finally said it. Their faces drew closer as their eyes slowly closed. Their lips touched as a single tear went down her cheek. They both relished the taste of their lips as the kiss deepened. His arms wrapped around her lithe waist while hers went around his neck, pulling each other closer. In her mind it felt like the world stopped, it felt like an eternity in this little beautiful world she was in, a world with him.

"Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"I love you too."

 **~oOo~**

 **Present Day**

"I will never forget that kiss." she whispered to the gravestone with a sad smile, "I felt so complete. It was like my entire world came full circle when our lips touched. I wanted it to last."

Thunder in the sky roared as droplets of rain started to pour down. It was then she started to remember the worst of it all, the horrible night that followed.

"I wanted it to last."

 **~oOo~**

 **Three Years Ago – Same Night**

As they got off the Ferris wheel, they both had smiles on their faces that pretty much told everyone that they had just shared a very special moment together. As they walked they began to hear screams as masked men and women in black and white uniforms armed with a myriad of weapons stormed the premises and started causing chaos, the White Fang are here. The sound of adults and children screaming were everywhere. The couple who drew their respective Dust powered weaponry. Naruto wielded a gunblade called the Axis Blade while Weiss wielded her multi Dust action rapier the Myrtenaster.

Both of them engaged in a fight against the radical group as their blades slashed their opponents. The blonde held his weapon in a reverse grip, much like the shinobi of the olden days. He empowered his blade with his semblance, which happened to be wind, and sliced his target and took down his target with ease by slicing his enemy's weapon in half before going for the kill. Kicking his opponent away he went for his next target.

Weiss on the other hand used her abilities to the fullest and made a glyph to create icicle shards. She was not accustomed to killing people as mostly trained herself to fight grimm, so this was going to be a hard battle for her. Her boyfriend on the other hand was having no trouble at all. She reposted and immediately thrusted her weapon forward and incapacitated her foe, while the enemy is a terrorist she still couldn't bring herself to kill him.

Naruto looked around and saw more White Fang going for the Dust nearby. _'So that's what they're after…'_ he leaped forward and slammed onto the ground, creating a shockwave with his semblance that blasted the enemy away. "Weiss, we need to keep stop from stealing the Dust, they're after it!"

"Right!" She nodded and created another glyph that sent a shockwave towards her opponent and threw him off into the water down below the boardwalk. She parried an incoming attack from behind and created one more glyph that also sent her opponent flying. Her style was more of a caster even though she wielded a rapier, but combined with Naruto's more offensive style of combat they created one hell of a team.

Naruto created a blast of wind and sent his enemy flying towards a metal pole, snapping the man's spine in the process while his sword hand sliced another in half. Switching the Axis Blade into gun-mode he fired a few bursts and easily took down the ones farthest away from him.

"Dammit!" the blonde cursed as more White Fang were pouring into the area, "There's too many of them!"

"What do we do?" the Schnee heiress asked.

One of the White Fang soldiers chuckled darkly at the sight of the couple. "Well, well… the son of the Yellow Flash and the Schnee heiress together in one place. Must be our lucky day."

The couple stood back to back as they were surrounded by dozens of Faunus radicals. Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration and hoped that the authorities would be here soon, there was no way they would be able to hold them off for long.

"GET THEM!" The leader of the White Fang forces ordered. In a split second everyone.

"Weiss… wombo combo!"

"Ugh, I can't believe we called it that!"

"Just do it!"

The Schnee heiress created a glyph right under them as her boyfriend channeled his wind semblance into his hand and slammed it onto glyph. This combined attack created a massive force of wind that unleashed tiny wind blades that shielded the couple. In a matter of seconds over a dozen White Fang enforcers were lacerated, over thousands of cuts covered their bodies and a massive pool of blood covered the area, causing the heiress to nearly puke at the amount of blood.

The White Fang officer growled in frustration and ordered everyone to attack at once.

A grave mistake.

As the battle ensued one of the White Fang gunners fired a few rounds with one of them heading straight for the pile of crates containing volatile Dust.

"YOU IDIOT!" the White Fang officer roared at his subordinate.

The couple widened their eyes and realized they only had a matter of a split second and they were getting tired from the fighting. But before Weiss could do anything Naruto used the last ounce of his strength and summoned a gust of wind to push his lover away from the blast radius. Weiss finally realized what just happened and could only look on in horror as the bullet collided with the crate.

She could only shield her eyes as a ball of inferno engulfed the area, incinerating everyone within the blast, including Naruto.

By the time the explosion occurred, the policemen and fire crew were on the scene.

Weiss then tried to go back in there but the firemen and policemen held her back.

"Ma'am, you can't go in there!"

"NO!" the Schnee heiress cried out, "HE'S STILL IN THERE! MY NARUTO IS STILL IN THERE. PLEASE, I HAVE TO GET HIM OUT OF THERE!"

The policemen sadly shook his head while still holding the hysterical girl at bay. "No one could have survived that blast, Miss Schnee, I'm sorry!"

"NO!" she went further down into despair as tears hotly flew out of her eyes while ignoring the wound on her left eye, "HE CAN'T BE DEAD! NARUTO! NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The White Fang had taken her beloved away from her.

 **~oOo~**

"We are gathered here today… to lay the soul of Naruto Namikaze to rest…"

The form of a weeping Kushina was present while her husband held her close. All were wearing black as a sign of mourning. There was no body as the authorities had concluded that the volatile had incinerated everything in sight, all they recovered was his gunblade.

"May he find peace in the embrace of Oum." The reverend said as he bowed his head in respect.

Weiss could only close her eyes and look away. She still couldn't believe it, he was gone, even when he promised her that they would be together forever. She clutched her purse a little tighter and gritted her teeth in anger… the White Fang did this, they took away the one person that mattered to her the most.

The clouds overhead began to darken and thunder roared.

 **~oOo~**

 **Present Day**

She didn't care that rain had made her soaking wet, she was going to stay here by his grave for a little longer.

" _ **You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they are a bunch of liars, thieves, and MURDERERS!"**_

That fight she had with Blake was still fresh in her mind, like it was yesterday. True her teammate was once in the White Fang, but she wasn't there, she wasn't one of those who killed her most precious person. She had just been so bitter these past three years, nothing was ever the same without him. She was going to be eighteen soon while today was Naruto's, but he's not here anymore.

"Oh dear!" a voice rang out and Weiss turned to see Kushina gasping at her. "What are you doing here, Weiss? You're all soaking wet, dattebane!"

"Hi Kushina…"

"Oh my!" The red head scampered over and hovered the umbrella over her late son's girlfriend. "You shouldn't be out like this while it's raining."

"Today's our anniversary… so I wanted to…" Weiss began but then her emotions got the better of her. "I wanted to…"

"Oh Weiss…" Kushina pulled the young woman in and gave her a motherly hug. Her own set of tears welled in her eyes. "I know dear, I know."

"I m-miss him s-so m-much." The heiress began as her stuttering began to return.

"I know." Kushina had let go of the umbrella as she took the girl into her arms and stroke her back, ignoring the fact that they were now both soaking wet. "Musume…"

On the gravestone it read:

' _ **Naruto Namikaze'  
'A loving man to all'**_

 **~oOo~**

 **Earth**

 **Somewhere in the Caucasus Mountains of Chechnya**

Three years… he's been here for three years, and he still doesn't know how he got here. He probably never will. He looked down below and saw that the battle was still raging between Russian forces and the Islamic State, he doubted that it will end, so long as hate existed it will never ever end. That's just how it is, it is in the nature of mankind to be at war. Whether it be here on Earth or back home in Remnant, hate will always exist.

"Misha!" a man from behind bearing the same uniform and BEAR emblem on his shoulders approached the blonde young man.

"What is it?"

"We just got word for another mission." The man said. "Time to earn our next paycheque, Misha, come on."

The blonde took out a picture from one of his pockets and gazed at it lovingly. On it was a beautiful image of a smiling young woman with snow white hair and light blue eyes.

"If there is a god out there… please, let me see her again."

"Misha?"

"Yeah…" the blonde nodded and placed the picture back into his pocket, "I'll be right there."

 **[Theme Song: Minstrel Boy – Black Hawk Down OST]**

 **NA: I wanted to explore the reason as to why Weiss was so bitter towards the Faunus and the White Fang and I thought… hey… why not make it like this?**

 **I nearly cried when writing the last parts… it's just how I am, I am a very emotional person and like to connect with the characters of my stories.**

 **So I hope you enjoyed this… and I am going to need another tissue box.**

 **If you guys can guess where the Axis Blade came from you get a cake…**


	2. Some LOTR Story

**NA: Got this idea from a friend when playing Shadow of Mordor, and also watching Lord of the Rings over and over.**

 **I would like to thank 'confusedcanadian' for helping me a bit with this.**

 **Chapter 1: Remember Today**

 **Southern-Earth**

"Truly, this is an interesting place, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

Three men clad in hoods walked through a large gateway of a large village surrounded by a circular wall. It was a grand looking village with buildings with red roofs, at the very end they could see a mountain with carvings of faces. "And I thought the dwarves were excellent craftsmen…"

"It seems that the men here have progressed on their own." the first man then looked on to see a small building, he looked closer to see that it was an orphanage. "Something or someone is here." The first man followed by his compatriots opened the door to the orphanage and was met with an elderly lady. "Good morrow to you, I was simply curious about this establishment."

"It's just an orphanage, sir, nothing more. Feel free to look if you like, not many children left since most of them have all been adopted."

The hooded man nodded and made his way through the corridors, as if he was being led by an unknown entity. He stopped at a door where he was led to and opened it, inside was an infant blonde child with three interesting whisker-like birth marks. The child seemed to be breathing well but was covered in dirt, it's diaper completely brown as it had not been change in a very long time. The man frowned and instinctively cleaned the child and replaced its garments. He picked up the child and gasped as he realized at who the child is. "This child is a Dunedain."

"Truly?" the second person asked for confirmation.

The first man nodded and immediately went up to the old woman, "Why has this child been neglected?"

"Child?" the old woman snorted, "That _thing_ is no child."

The first man frowned, "Then if you will not care for him, I will simply take him of your hands."

"I don't care what you do to that _thing_ , as long as it's no longer here."

The three men huffed and made their way out of the building. "It seems that this place is not so kind to children, the child is fortunate to have us found him at this time. So you do intend to adopt him?"

"My wife is barren unfortunately, little brother." The first man then looked at the little bracelet on the infant's left hand and saw that it had words inscribed into it, "Naruto… that is an elvish name, it means maelstrom." His eyes softened as he saw the infant yawn like nothing was happening, "Hello Naruto, I am your father, Boromir, and this is your uncle Faramir, and the other is simply our guard, a soldier of Gondor."

"He can't hear you, Boromir." Faramir said, "He's asleep and only cares about sleeping right now."

"Just like you were when you were a babe." The older brother told him as he chuckled, "My wife has always wanted to hold an infant in her arms, and I believe little Naruto is the answer to that."

"Yes…" Faramir nodded in agreement, "Elina would most definitely love him."

"Come, we sail back to Gondor." He then looked down once more at his new son, "We sail back to your new home, and your new family."

 **XXXXXXXX**

"You let them take him!?" an elderly man roared at the matron of the orphanage as she was now being held by two masked men.

"B-But hokage-sama."

"SILENCE!" the man roared once more, "Do you have any idea what you have done?" the old woman said nothing, "Anbu, take her away and lock her up, we must find the boy." _'Forgive me, Minato, Kushina.'_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **1 month later**

 **Middle-Earth**

 **Gondor – City of Kings**

"My heart." A beautiful woman with flowing brown hair that went to her back held a child closer to her as if it were her own, "He is beautiful, and you say he is a Dunedain?"

"Indeed he is, Elina." Boromir knelt down and held the two close to him, "We have been tasked with raising one of the last remaining Dunedain."

"What is his name?"

"His name is Naruto." The man answered his wife, "It is elvish for maelstrom."

"It is a kingly name." the woman held the child closer, "Oh thank you Boromir, you have given me a son."

"I promised you did I not?" the man kissed his wife's head, "We would start a family together."

 **Naruto: Age Five**

"Father, father!" Naruto now at the age of five ran up to Boromir with a miniature bow in his hands.

"Ah little one!" Boromir had returned from a mission, clad in silvery gray armor with the symbol of a white tree on his breastplate. He picked up the little bundle of energy and sat him upon his lap, "What did you do today?"

"I was with uncle and his rangers."

"Oh, were you now?"

"Mhmm!" the blonde nodded, "I want to be a ranger when I grow up!"

"I am sure you will make a fine ranger."

Elina walked in and quickly gave her husband a kiss, "My heart, welcome home."

"I am home."

"I have dinner ready, so go ahead and wash up, you're not going into the dining room in armor."

"Yes dear."

"Mother," Naruto jumps down and catches up to his mother, "father says I am going to be a ranger when I grow up!"

"Oh he did, did he?" the boy nodded, "I am sure you will make a fine one."

"That's what he said too!"

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **Naruto: Age 17**

 **Osgiliath**

He had grown wonderfully over the past years, from child to teenager, he had trained with the rangers and his uncle Faramir, their chief. With a bow and arrow he drew its string, aiming at the orc before him. The second he loose the string, the arrow stayed true to its mark, hitting the target right between the eyes. "A fine shot, nephew!" Faramir praised him for his marksmanship.

Naruto had now longer hair but not as long as most men of Gondor, he preferred to keep it short and tied it into a small ponytail. He wore a ranger's garb with his hood and mask currently down, a bluish cloak with leather armor and chainmail. He wore brown boots and black pants with golden bracers on his arms. Even now at the age of fifteen his energy knew no limit, he was always fond of climbing buildings and trees, as if he was born to be a ranger, his marksmanship with a bow was equal to that of an elf and his agility was like that of them as well. It was told that he would be Gondor's finest ranger. He had gained the love of the father of his father, Denethor II, though it irked him that he would belittle his uncle Faramir, no matter what he did and no matter how hard he tried.

Denethor would mock him that he would cast a poor reflection on him and his grandson as he was currently his captain. For now at least they were given peace from him and he could spend time with his favorite and only uncle without having Denethor at Faramir's throat. "It's because I learned from the best, uncle."

"You give me too much credit nephew, the rangers here also had a hand in your training." He chuckled as he patted his nephew's back, "How are your powers handling?"

"Besides temporary increase in speed, not to mention I could see things where normal eyes cannot?" he asked him to which he nodded in response, "They are, progressing slowly… it's not every day you encounter a Dunedain who is also half wraith."

Naruto's powers were mindboggling to the scholars of Gondor, it was inconceivable that a wraith would merge with a child at birth, they didn't have the famous wizard Gandalf to aid them in to how he possessed such abilities. Denethor didn't care one bit though, it made him more pompous than ever, boasting at how a wraith was on Gondor's side… although it did boost morale.

"Father thinks you can turn into a one-man-army."

Naruto snorted, "As if… I may be half-wraith, but I am only one man." He then heard cheers outside the wrecked building as thousands of soldiers were shouting for his father's name "Boromir!"

Boromir drew his sword, now clad in gray and silver armor. On his left hand held the flag of Gondor, it's white banner for all soldiers to see from down below. "This city, was once the jewel of our kingdom, a place of light, and beauty, and music, and so it shall be once more!"

The cheers became louder as arms were held high in joy.

"Let the armies of Mordor know this, never again, will the land of my people fall into enemy hands! This city of Osgiliath has been reclaimed for Gondor!"

"For Gondor!"

The Captain-General raised his sword higher, "FOR GONDOR!"

"FOR GONDOR!"

 **XXXXXXXX**

Walking through the many men tending for their wounded, Faramir and his nephew walked up to the captain and hugged him, "Good speech." Naruto said, "Nice and short."

"Leaves more time for drinking!" The three steward-princes of Gondor laughed at that as the oldest of the three turned his head, "Break out the ale, these men are thirsty!" he then grabbed cups for the ale and handed them to his son and younger brother, "Remember today my son, little brother, today life is good."

Faramir drank his cup but then turned to his left, his face went solemn as he recognized the man approaching them.

"Uncle?" Naruto looked at him with worry.

" _He_ 's here." Was his only reply as both father and son knew who he was talking about, Boromir then turned his head to see his father greeting the soldiers as he passed them by.

"Only one moment of peace, The eldest brother said with a frown, "can he not give us that?"

"Where is Gondor's finest?" Denethor asked as he approached his son and grandson, "Where is my firstborn and his son?"

"Father/Grandfather." The two greeted him with a hug.

Denethor ruffled his grandson's hair, "They say you vanquished the enemy almost single handed."

"They exaggerate." The blonde replied, "The victory also belongs to uncle as well."

Denethor scoffed, "But it not for him, the city would still be standing."

"Our numbers were too few, father." Faramir said as he tried to reason with him.

"Oh, too few." The father approached him, "You let the enemy walk in and take it on a whim. Always you cast a poor reflection on me."

Faramir now looked shameful as he tried to face him, "That is not my inent."

"You give him no credit and yet he tries to do your will." Boromir said as he walked away with his father and son following him behind, "He loves you father, and Naruto idolizes him."

"Do not trouble me with Faramir, I know his uses and they are few."

Boromir could not believe what he was hearing.

"We have more urgent things to speak of."

"What things, grandfather?"

"Elrond of Rivindell has called a meeting," Denethor answered him, "he will not say why but I have guessed its purpose."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he and his father listened closely.

"It is rumored that the weapon of the enemy has been found." The Steward of Gondor whispered to them as to not alert the soldiers around them.

Naruto widened his eyes, almost gasping as his legs went weak, "The One Ring."

Boromir breathed out in shock. "Isildur's Bane."

"It has fallen into the hands of the elves." Denethor said with scorn in his voice, "Everyone will try to claim it, men, dwarves, wizards, we cannot let that happen."

"Grandfather, you cannot possibly think we can use it as a weapon it is too-"

"That is exactly my intent!" he said, cutting him off, "This thing must come to Gondor. It is dangerous I know, I know the ring will seek to corrupt the hearts of lesser men, but you two, both of you are strong, and our need is great. It is OUR blood that is being spilt, our people who are dying, Saruman is biding his time, he amassing fresh armies, he will return. And when he does we will be powerless to stop him. Both of you must go, bring me back this mighty gift."

"No." Boromir shook his head, "Our place is here with our people, not in Rivindell! Elina will be heartbroken to see Naruto go."

"You would deny your own father?"

Faramir walked up to them, "If there is need to go to Rivindell, send me in their stead."

"You?" their father sneered, "Oh I see, a chance for Faramir Captain of Gondor to show his quality, I think not. I trust this mission only to you brother and nephew. The ones who will not fail me."

 **XXXXXXXX**

Boromir now clad in lighter garbs of leather and a round shield on his back was getting ready to depart for Rivindell. His wife Elina was hugging her son, placing kisses all over his face and head as tears escaped her eyes, holding him for dear life. She then approached her husband and kissed him passionately, "Take care, my heart, take care of yourself and our baby boy."

Boromir nodded as he returned the kiss, "I will, my heart." The father and son then got on their horses with Boromir's hand still holding his wife's. "I will return, with great many gifts for you."

"I just want you two back safe, that is all I wish for."

The husband then turned to Faramir, "Remember today, little brother." The pair rode out, their way to Rivindell, and to a quest that will shape Middle-Earth, forever.

As the two men made their way out of Gondor, Naruto decided to look through his eyes as a wraith, he narrowed them and saw two spirits watching them from the distance.

"Do you see something son?"

"Just two spirits, I swear one of them had bright long red hair."

 **NA: So I guess we can all agree that Denethor, is an ass.**

 **So as for Naruto's ranger outfit, I based it of The Elder Scrolls Online Bretton Ranger from the trailer, or you can just see it on the picture above. He has wraith powers similar to Talion as you can probably guess who this wraith living inside him is.**

 **Just to those who are wondering, Elina is an OC created just for this.**

 **Still part of the story Omake:**

A peculiar looking orc with armor made from the bone of a caragor escaped a cave that entered Mordor. He was a yellowish green orc, "I'm alive! HAHAHA! That's right, Ratbag is alive aaaaaagh-" he could have said more but immediately tumbled down the flight of rocky stairs, all the way to the bottom, "I'm alright! That didn't hurt at all, at least I don't think it hurts."

The orc got himself with a slight limp before he straightened himself as best he could, "Well, no more serving the dark lord for me, that's for sure, I'm going to live like a king-" he was silenced once more as a small rock hit his head, but somehow he survived.

"Honestly, I don't even know how I'm bloody alive…" he gasped as he removed the rock atop his body, "Okay yeah… that hurt, that really hurt."

Being Warchief wasn't all that great… not with a hammer to the face.


	3. Front Mission Story

**NA: Charlotte is love! Charlotte is life! There is no other comparison to her, she is just perfect for Ichika. Although she does have that angry smile.**

 **~oOo~**

Wars start over different kinds of reasons, a myriad of emotions, some as an act of desperation, others are for more personal reasons. Politicians would start wars to gather resources, for land, money, power. Good intentions are never a part of it, no matter how much the world's leaders use it as a mask.

War is always about emotions, greed, power, and money. War always starts with the selfishness of the human heart, what they get in return. History has always been written by the victors, but history is filled with liars.

They say truth is the first casualty of war. But who defines what's true? Truth is just a matter of perspective. The duty of every soldier is to protect the innocent, and sometimes that means preserving the lie of good and evil—that war isn't just natural selection played out on a grand scale. The only truth I found is that the world we live in is a giant tinderbox. All it takes... is someone to light the match. You know, war used to be simple. Kill or be killed. Survive at all costs. Then everything changed. The action got faster, the weapons got more powerful, the stakes got bigger than anything we'd ever seen.

Over the past century the world had formed four supernations, the United States of the New Continent (USN), it comprised of all of North, Central, and South America. The European Federation (EF), a more centralized version of the European Union, and just recently it had welcomed Russia and all of Eastern Europe into the fold. The Oceanic Community Union (OCU), comprised of Australia and most of South East Asia minus Japan as it decided to stay independent. And finally there is the People's Republic of Da Han Zhong, or DHZ, this had replaced the People's Republic of China after a coup that had deposed the previous regime and finally reunited all of China, including Taiwan.

While no nations engaged in all-out war, border skirmishes had become more frequent between the four superpowers and other smaller nations. And because these engagements rarely caught any attention, people would rather turn a blind eye than face the consequences of an all-out war. Even then the people had enjoyed a lasting peace despite the problems that persisted in other places of the world.

In the middle of the 21st century, mankind has advanced immensely in technology. Robotics was the one that was most prominent in those fields as giant humanoid war machines codenamed 'wanzers' roamed the battlefield. They were five to six meter tall mechs, boasting armor as thick as a battle tank but with great mobility. Although a versatile weapons platform, it can only do so much on its own, thus the use of tanks and other conventional vehicles were still widely used. This meant that fighting in a battle was never the same as wanzers had taken a tank's place as the 'king' of the battlefield.

But it did not stop there.

Near the end of the 21st century, a new kind of platform was developed by a young woman by the name of Tabane Shinonono. A platform known as the Infinite Stratos, although scoffed at due to its relatively unconventional design, all eyes then turned towards it when an incident occurred. An incident that changed the world.

An unknown hacker hacked multiple military computers to send 2341 missiles to Japan, the Infinite Stratos known only as the White Knight appeared and neutralised the threat. Soon the other countries sent out their armies to try and capture or destroy the unit, only to have them bested by a single unit. The White Knight would then disappear from the world, never to be seen again, while leaving behind a legacy that came to be called the "White Knight Incident", causing the entire world to impose laws about the usage of IS. It is unknown how other countries succeeded in making Japan comply with the treaty, as the government of Japan was not directly involved with the invention of the IS and the "White Knight" incident. However, perhaps due to the Japanese ethnicity and citizenship of the inventor of the IS Tabane Shinonono, as well as the magnitude of the armaments of other countries prior to the IS, Japan was singled out as the responsible party and was forced to comply.

The main features of the treaty are as follows:

 _Countries are essentially prohibited from employing IS in any kind of armed conflict. However, possession of IS as military-grade units are allowed since they are the only means of deterring and defending against possible armed aggressions involving IS._

 _All information and technology related to IS must be disclosed to the world and shared openly. Any further R &D is put under same restriction upon its actual field-testing, but if the field-testing of newly-acquired technology is done inside IS Academy, the researchers/developers are allowed to keep their technology confidential. _

_Exchange of IS cores is prohibited under any circumstance._

 _Japan and its government are responsible for creating an integrated IS pilot training facility which is required to accept any and all admittance of pilot candidates from any foreign countries, provided they are endorsed by a legitimate government body or foundation. The Japanese government should take appropriate action to ensure that the balance of IS pilots in the world is kept in check. Essentially, the Japanese government was forced to fund and maintain such a facility without any external support._

 _And lastly, as a part of regulating IS development, each supernation – minus the DHZ – is allowed to build a military garrison in Tokyo._

Strangely enough the IS could only be operated by a female, which left many researches baffled as to why it was like this. Because of the treaty did not allow an IS to be engaged in a conflict, the wanzer still remained the de facto 'king' of the battlefield, but it still left many veteran wanzer pilots, both men and women, bitter towards the newer machine as it was literally – In all sense – an overpowering weapon. It in turn made those dedicated to wanzer development to continue in improving them so they could one day match the power of the IS. Armor would be improved, and there was already development of energy shielding for each and every machine. Even weapons were not left out as energy and magnetic weaponry became a popular topic among researchers.

The advent of the IS had in turn caused the world to start an arms race, the competitors were who could develop the more powerful weapons platform.

And it was a time where a young boy, who grew up into a soldier, had realized that his life was far from ordinary.

 **2109**

 **Somewhere in Tokyo**

Deep within a warehouse, a young ten year old boy frowned as he hugged his knees and leaned on a crate. He had short black hair and dark brown eyes. He, alongside an eleven year old boy of golden hair and gray eyes, deduced that they had been possibly kidnapped by an organization that had wanted to do harm to their family. As for the first boy, he probably guessed that it had something to do with his sister who won last year's IS competition known as the Mondo Grosso. This boy was Ichika Orimura, younger sister to the 'Brunhilde' Chifuyu Orimura, who was arguably one of the strongest IS pilots out there. She was currently in the finals of the second Mondo Grosso, and that meant that some people did not appreciate her success.

"Hey." The second boy spoke up with what appeared to be an Australian accent. "I'm Jed, Jed Gordon."

"I'm Ichika… Ichika Orimura."

Jed's eyes widened. "Woah… that means…"

Ichika nodded. "Yeah… these guys probably kidnapped me because of my sister who is in the finals."

"That must suck…"

"Yeah…" The raven-haired boy chuckled. "What about you?"

"Me?" Jed slumped. "My mum's a politician in the OCU… but before that she fought Huffman as a wanzer pilot. She's one of those veteran pilots who don't exactly like the IS. So I'm guessing that because she's a member of an IS 'hating' faction, they decided to go after me so that they can pressure her."

"You're awfully calm about all of this."

"Oh look's whose talking…"

Both boys stared at each other for a moment before going into quiet fits of laughter. Once their laughter stopped the blond stretched out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ichika."

"You too." Ichika shook his hand with a smile. He looked around and saw that the place was still as dark as ever.

"Where do you think are we?"

"Probably in one of the abandoned warehouses in Tokyo's port. There are some places that some people use as a hideout. Yakuza especially. But the guys that took us don't look like them at all."

"So it's definitely someone after your sister and my mum."

"Yeah."

It was at that time they heard the silent weeping of what appeared to be a girl. Deciding to be curious and see what it is, they found a crying girl with short blonde hair and amethyst eyes huddled into a corner. She was wearing a pink French beret with the same colored yarn sweater.

"Guess we're not alone."

The girl gasped and tried crawling away, her back now pressed up against the wall. "P-Please… don't h-hurt m-me!"

"We're not going to hurt you!" Ichika told her as he knelt down, "Did they kidnap you too?"

The girl nodded with tears still streaming down her face.

"I'm Jed Gordon."

"And I'm Ichika Orimura."

The girl's eyes widened, earning a nod from the latter boy.

"Yep, Chifuyu Orimura is my nee-san. What's your name?"

"Charlotte… Charlotte Eliane…"

Jed whistled. "I know that surname… you're related to Elsa Eliane, yeah?"

The blonde nodded her head. "She's my aunt."

"What's so special about her name?" Ichika whispered.

"Eslia Eliane is an officer in the European Commonwealth's Durandal Division." Jed whispered back. "I mean she's one of the top wanzer pilots in the world, alongside others like Darril Traubel, Billy Renges… and that's just naming a few. Those guys are big deal. And what's more… Elsa Eliane and her older sister are here to watch the Mondo Grosso with some of the highest ranking military officers from around the world. Personally she doesn't like being there either but…"

"I see." Ichika nodded and knelt down beside the girl, flashing her a smile in the process. "Don't worry Charlotte, I won't let anything happen to you." Jed cleared his throat. "I mean we won't let anything happen to you."

The blonde blushed at Ichika's radiant smile. For some reason she felt comfort when she was near. Not to mention that he was quite handsome with his exotic looks.

An explosion was heard from outside along with the sound of stomping. Through a crack in the wall, both boys saw several wanzers engaging other wanzers.

"What the…" Jed narrowed his eyes. "You're telling me that our abductors are wanzer pilots? This doesn't make any sense?"

"Probably some terrorist group…" Ichika guessed.

Another explosion rocked the place.

"We can't stay here!" Ichika said as he grabbed hold of Charlotte's hand. "We need to get out of here!"

"But where?"

"I know how to get out of here." The raven-haired boy told them. "Follow me!"

Running through the dark paths of the port, more explosions erupted in the area as five wanzers were engaged in a fierce fight with one another. While they ran Jed saw the markings, three of the wanzers were two Zeniths and a Frost engaged with Eins types. But the Eins were unmarked while the other three were each from the major supernations, USN, OCU, and the EC. Those Eins pilots were good as they were holding their ground against the three wanzers.

As they ran, a stray missile fired from the EC Zenith landed near their location, sending them flying. Charlotte screamed as she landed in the open. Ichika screamed her name, telling her to run as one of the unmarked Eins wanzers skidded over to the location while still firing its machine gun. Due to her still being dazed from the blast, she wasn't able to react in time.

"Ichika!" Jed, while clutching his now injured arm, screamed for the friend's name as the raven-haired boy came running after the blonde girl.

Ichika took Charlotte in his arms as the shell casings from the Eins' machine gun came falling down towards them. He held her close to his chest and shielded her as a hot metal casing struck his face. He blacked out after that.

 **Front Mission: Infinite**

 **Chapter 1: Scars**

" **It is unclear as to where these two unknown wanzers came from, but thanks to three joint effort of three wanzers from the USN, the OCU, and the EC, these unknowns were defeated. Unfortunately the investigators were unable to ID the pilots as their machines self-destructed the moment they were shot down. More will come to you shortly, this is Yurie Kimishima of Japan National News, signing off."**

Ichika opened his eyes to the sight of a familiar face. In front of him was a young woman with long black hair and dark brown eyes like his. That's right, this woman was the world famous Chifuyu Orimura, who was also now two-time champion of the Mondo Grosso. News of her brother's abduction came in late the moment she went into the finals due to the intervention of the three wanzers. This allowed her to win the match while security forces came in to search for her brother and the other abducted children. The investigation as to who exactly those people were was still ongoing, but for now… she still has the only family left.

"Nnngh…" Ichika groaned as he opened his eyes. "Nee-chan?"

"Ichika…!" Chifuyu gasped and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god you're okay."

The younger sibling lifted his left arm and touched the bandage over his left cheek. He then remembered the shell casing striking him as he protected Charlotte. "Charlotte… Jed…"

"They're okay." Chifuyu reassured him as she looked at the other children the hospital bed.

Elsa Eliane and her older sister Maria walked up to them. The latter flashed him a grateful smile. "Charlotte only a suffered a few scrapes. It was thanks to you that she had come out relatively unscathed."

"Oui." Elsa smiled at the boy. "You have our thanks, Ichika Orimura."

"My mate's awake!?" Jed sat up with his left arm wrapped in a sling. "You're as tough as nails, Ichika!"

"Hey Jed."

"Ichika!" Charlotte got off her bed and went up to him. She went to his right side and planted a kiss on his uninjured cheek. "Merci… Ichika… you saved my life."

He flushed when he felt her warm lips on his skin. "Anything for a friend."

Charlotte widened her eyes. "Friend?"

Ichika nodded. "We're friends now, right?"

Elsa turned to Chifuyu and smiled at her. "While I may not appreciate the IS, I can certainly respect the reason as to why you have chosen to pilot those machines. If there is anything you and your brother need, just let me know. It is the least I can do for what your younger brother has done for us."

Chifuyu bowed to them. "Thank you."

Elsa then gestured the young woman to follow her out of the room along with Captain Emma Gordon, Jed's mother. "It seems that Captain Gordon wants a word with you, if that's alright."

"Of course."

Once the adults left the room, Jed and Charlotte gathered around Ichika's bed.

"Hey Ichika, guess what." Jed spoke up. "I'm thinking of joining the military. Mum thinks it's a good idea too."

"Join the OCU military huh?" Ichika whispered. "I kinda like the sound of that." After seeing those wanzers in action, he began to imagine himself piloting one of those machines. "What about you, Charl?"

"C-Charl?" Charlotte tilted her head.

The younger Orimura sibling nodded and smiled at her. "Yeah… a nickname for you… Charl, short for Charlotte. Short and sweet."

' _S-Sweet?'_ Her face flushed at the word. _'He thinks I'm sweet?'_ She then started to twiddle with her fingers.

"Huh? Why is your face red?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Are you sure?"

"Oui!"

 **~oOo~**

Maria giggled at the scene. "It seems my little girl has gotten herself a crush."

Chifuyu irked at the scene.

"Oh come now, Orimura." Elsa smirked at the young woman. "There's nothing wrong with my niece becoming infatuated with your brother. He does have that certain charm. I can already see it now… those two becoming a couple."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm more interested in him thinking of joining the OCU's military. Boy's got a lot of promise when he took the initiative in making their escape. He's got the potential to be a member of the special forces alongside my Jed."

Chifuyu frowned. "Japan is a…"

"We are aware of Japan's stances and its 'neutral status'." Elsa stated. "But there is no law that prevents its citizens from joining one of the world's militaries. That is why there are military garrisons in Tokyo as per agreement within the Alaska Treaty. But… you're worried there could be a controversy if he chooses to…"

She nodded. "Not so much for myself but for him… public opinion towards him could…"

"You will just have to cross that bridge when you get there." The Australian officer said as she watched her son enjoy himself with his new friends. "You could move to Huffman island with your brother, the place is wonderful, especially in Freedom City, Jed and I are planning to move there in a few years."

 **~oOo~**

 **Two Years Later**

"Eeeeeh!?" A Chinese girl in a school uniform exclaimed as she looked at the two boys in front of her. "You're both moving to Huffman Island?"

Jed nodded. "Yeah… we're moving there with a good friend of ours from France. We'll be completing middle school there, after that we'll be enrolling in the military academy."

"Who's this friend of yours?" The girl asked.

"Her name's Charlotte." Ichika replied. "She, alongside Jed, is my best friend. She comes here to visit every summer and Christmas, between that we've been keeping in touch through video chat every day."

The girl then began to feel jealous at how enthusiastic the dark-haired boy was about this Charlotte. "When will you leave?"

"This week."

"Huh?"

"Yeah." The Australian nodded. "Sorry we had to break it to you so soon, Rin. But it's already been finalized."

This was Huang Lingyin, nicknamed Rin by her friends. She is a native of Taiwan who had moved with her parents to Japan. Her family started their own restaurant not too long after and became a successful hit. During her first years in school when they arrived she was the target of pranks and bullying because of her nationality, but thankfully Ichika and Jed came to the rescue with her falling in love with the former.

"Oh." Rin looked down before giving Ichika a fierce look. "Ichika… when we meet again and I become an excellent cook… I'll… cook for you for the rest of my life!"

"What?" Ichika looked at his blond best friend. "Uh… okay?"

"Great!" Rin beamed at him and left the classroom.

"What was that all about?"

Jed shrugged. "You're asking me? I can barely understand why she does what she does."

 **~oOo~**

 **1 Week Later**

 **Huffman Island**

 **Freedom City**

"Ichika! Jed!" Charlotte came running up to them and pulled the former in a fierce hug. "It is so good to see you!"

"No hug for me?"

The blonde giggled and hugged her fellow blonde. "Don't worry Jed, I would never leave you out."

Jed chuckled and rolled his eyes. _'These two have it bad… it's bloody clear as day.'_

"Can you believe it?" Charlotte exclaimed with the excitement in her voice. "We're going to be neighbors!"

 **~oOo~**

Huffman Island was an island located in the South Pacific, it is a colony of sorts that bridges between the USN and the OCU with the Mail River forming as a natural border between the two supernations. Freedom City formed the capital of the OCU while Fort Monus was the USN's counterpart. While both nations were not currently at war, relations were strained due to the history of several events that occurred in this very island. In 2070 both nations disputed over dominion of the island, instigating the First Huffman Conflict. In 2089 a series of skirmishes occurred and surprisingly both the USN and OCU send in peacekeeping forces to quell the violence which became known as the Huffman Crisis. A year later the Second Huffman Conflict erupts.

This island, though peaceful right now, had a history of attracting war.

The trio of friends enjoyed their new lives in Huffman as they went to school together. It was also here that both Charlotte and Ichika got closer and nearly inseparable. Wherever they went, they were always together. Jed of course saw this and thought it was cure, these two were practically like his own siblings and found it nice that they were slowly becoming a couple. Every time he tried to tease Ichika, the boy would just give him a confused look. He would say 'You better take good care of her, Ichika!' to which Ichika would respond with 'What are you talking about, bro?'.

A few months later Chifuyu had returned to Japan to accept the job of being a teacher in the IS Academy, this would in turn support Ichika and her in the long term as the salary was extremely good. Ichika of course didn't mind as he knew that his older sister was doing this for them. He was still very young when his parent abandoned them and when Chifuyu decided to become his legal guardian. He didn't know why they left him, and he didn't really care anymore. But if he did find them, then he would probably question them with a good threat.

Other than that, life was good for them.

But then tragedy struck when Charlotte's mother Maria dies of illness. Ichika was thankfully there for her when it happened, and he promised that he would never make her feel alone. Elsa of course gained custody over her but then it was revealed that she was the illegitimate daughter of the CEO of the Dunois Corporation in France. The company was a major IS developer with its most well-known IS the Rafale Revive. For an entire year Elsa battled the CEO for custody over her. It didn't make any sense, this man had never been a part of her life and now he wants in on it. it was clear that Elsa hated the man but no matter how hard she fought… she couldn't win.

The happiness that they had been building in Huffman was being shattered because someone simply had more money.

 **~oOo~**

 **Two Years Later**

 **Freedom City International Airport**

"It's not fair!" Ichika punched the wall as tears threatened to escape his eyes. He looked at the tearful Charlotte and gritted his teeth. "It's not fair…"

"I am so sorry." Elsa stated in sadness. "I did what I could but…"

"I'm not blaming you, Miss Eliane." The Japanese boy huskily said. "I'm just… angry over all of this…"

"Dunois is a powerful man." Elsa told him. "He is a major IS developer in Europe and has his hands deep in politics. I fought as hard as I could… but…"

"I know."

The woman sighed as she grabbed the bags. "I'll leave you two alone…"

As she left them alone, Charlotte broke down into even more tears, causing Ichika to pull him into his arms. Her mumbles were incoherent but it was clearly seen that she was distressed about all of this. This was not what she had wanted in her life. To be away from Ichika was to her, a fate worse than death. The fourteen year old girl just wept in his chest as he continued to hug her while rubbing her back.

"We'll see each other again." He whispered. "We'll keep in touch as well. Video chat and all… I'll use my sister's status in the IS community to maintain in touch if I have to. I'll do whatever I can just I can see your face."

She just nodded.

He pulled away for a moment and pulled something from out his pocket. "Here… I wanted to give this to you for your birthday but…"

Charlotte breathed at the beautiful necklace. "It's beautiful…"

"Yeah…" He nodded, but he wasn't looking at the necklace. He unclipped the chain and wrapped it around her neck. "Just something for you to remember me by."

The blonde looked up and gazed into his deep dark eyes. She got on her toes and planted her lips upon his. He widened his eyes at what she had done. But before he could return it she broke away.

"I'll always keep you close to my heart, Ichika… mon amour."

"Charl…"

She brought her hand up to his scarred cheek, the very scar he had gotten when he saved her life. "I love you… Ichika…"

"Charl…"

Charlotte began to back away and blew him a kiss. He tried to say something but could not find the strength to say the words he wanted to say. So with tears running down his face, he watched her go.

 **~oOo~**

 **Two Years Later**

 **Freedom City Military Academy**

They had finally gotten into the military academy, going in as wanzer pilot cadets. In just two short years they had become top students with already thousands of hours logged in the simulators. The OCU military was actually excited to have them once they graduate. Jed walked up to his buddy with two cans of soda. He saw the distant look in his eyes and understood what that meant. He missed her, he missed her dearly.

"Here you go, mate."

"Thanks."

"You doing alright, man?"

"It's been two years, Jed." Ichika sighed and leaned on the bleacher. "Two years since she left."

"At least we're still keeping in touch. Something about the Dunois guy approving of you…"

"Because of who my sister is." The fifteen – turning sixteen - year old cadet said interruption. "The bastard is just after publicity. I mean when we spoke he was 'excited' to meet me. But she's still having a tough time there. She's an illegitimate child made 'legitimate', that means that she's an unwanted child in the entire family. We saw it in her eyes, she hates it there."

Jed sighed. "So that's why she's going to the IS Academy next year. Just to get away from them… but also to be closer to you."

"Yeah…"

The Australian patted him. "Cheer up mate, at least she'll be much happier in Japan than there. Plus, Major Eliane will be there for her. So… what's it like? Online dating with her?"

Ichika snorted at the joke. "Never a dull moment with you, Jed."

"One of my many talents."

"You have talents?"

"Oh…" Jed grabbed his friend and put him in an arm lock. "You had to go there!"

Before any more words could be said, an explosion was heard in the distance, both cadets stood up and saw that the explosion was nearby.

"That's one of the hangars." Ichika said. "Are we…"

Another explosion rocked the area as enemy wanzers rolled in and started firing on the base. Jed gaped at the scene as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The markings on the enemy wanzers were… "Are those USN wanzers!?"

"Oh my god…" Ichika jumped down. "Come on, we gotta get to the hangars!"

"Ichika what are you…!"

"We can't just stand here!"

Both cadets ran into one of the nearby wanzer hangars and found two unused Zentih type wanzers. As the cadets boarded the machines, a few of the engineers caught this.

"Hey… what are you kids doing!?"

"We're going out there." Ichika said as he put on a helmet and powered up the wanzer.

"You can't be serious…"

"I need an assault configuration A for this one." Jed told them. "Look, our home is under attack, no way in hell are we just going to sit by."

"Hey!" Ichika called out to them. "I need a striker HB in D configuration for this."

The chief engineer rubbed his head. "Ah man… fine! I'll set them up immediately. But you buys better come back alive!"

As the cockpits closed, both cadets looked each other. They were only fifteen and sixteen, below the age allowed for enlisted men to go into combat. But they didn't really have a choice right now as they had chosen to defend their home. Of all the places the enemy decided to attack, it had to be the cadet base where it barely had any experienced pilots or soldiers to defend the place. Nobody had expected to attack a city so deep inside OCU territory.

"Hey Ichika?"

"Yeah?"

"You scared?"

"Yeah." As the weapons were being loaded onto the wanzers, Ichika gripped the control stick. "But we gotta come alive out of this, bro. People's lives are depending on us."

"Just like the simulators, Ichika."

"Just like the simulators…"

"You're good to go!" The engineers told them. "Now go get them, kids!"

Both wanzers' eyes powered up into a bright red and walked out of the hangar with hot weapons. Once clear of the hangar they activated the jets and skated their way down towards the enemy wanzers wreaking havoc on the populace.

"Ichika, I got the ones on the left, you take the right!"

"Roger that!"

The left arm of Ichika's Zenith was armed with a shield/heat blade hybrid, allowing him to not only protect himself while out in the open but it also has the ability to extend out an extremely dense and sharp superheated sword that can't only stab like a pile driver, but slice anything like butter. Extending his right arm, he fired his machine gun and shoulder-mounted rotary and missile launcher. All the while Jed did the same with both machine guns and similar weapons. In the simulator they would work in tandem, Ichika's knack for close quarters with Jed's medium-ranged gunnery skills. Before the enemy wanzers could even register what was shooting at them, one of them was already impaled by the heat blade. As Ichika used his dead enemy as a shield, he tried to flush out the feelings of actually killing a person while continuously firing his machine gun.

This was definitely not like the simulator. He could hear the blood curling screams of the pilot as his heat blade dug into the enemy wanzer's chest area, where the pilot is seated. But he knew that he didn't have time to think on that as the lives of innocent people were at stake and there were several enemy wanzers still standing.

Jed gritted his teeth as he pulled the trigger and unleashed a torrent of machine gun rounds down range and peppered the enemy Blizzaia in front of him. He pressed his thumb down on the stick's button and unleashed a hail of missiles, crippling his target's legs.

Ichika roared and threw his dead enemy at the wanzer his partner had crippled. A screeching sound of metal making contact was heard before both disabled machines came crashing down onto the ground. The enemy wanzer pilots were virtually shocked as to what just happened. These two Zeniths just came out of nowhere and killed two pilots in a matter of seconds with a coordinated attack. It wasn't only after a few seconds did they focus their attacks on the two. Instincts kicked in as the cadet pilots remembered all the sleepless nights in the simulators, coming up with strategies and practicing on combat. Using the burnt buildings as cover they skated their way down the wrecked streets and fired back.

While firing his machine gun, Ichika found his next target. He ducked down and avoided the missiles before once again brandishing his heat blade. Using the shield he blocked a few attacks before getting close and swinging the white hot blade in a horizontal angle. But he didn't stop, as soon as the enemy wanzer was sliced in half he continued down the road and filled his next target with armor piercing rounds. Their coordination was so well-done that the enemy wanzers couldn't find the time to counter their unorthodox tactics.

Jed skated around his opponent and stuck the end of all the guns he had onto his enemy's chest. Pulling the triggers the Blizzaia wanzer was littered with bullet holes. He turned around and fired another volley of missiles on another.

"Get the hell out of our home!" The blond growled.

The raven-haired cadet roared again as he swung his sword arm and impaled an enemy wanzer and lifted it into the air. He turned around and threw the machine at the final enemy, knocking the last one out.

 **[This is General Greenland to the two unidentified Zeniths, identify yourselves!]**

"General Greenland, this is Cadet Gordon with Cadet Orimura, targets eliminated. We also captured one alive."

The radio was silent at first but then the General started laughing. **[You boys sure tore them up quite nicely. Come back home you two, we'll have the rest of the garrison retrieve that pilot. Good work you two.]**

Ichika was panting as he gripped the control stick with sweat pouring down his face. "Understood General… we're RTB."

"Ichika, you alright?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, bro."

"We did it… didn't we, mate?"

"We did."

 **~oOo~**

 **Tokyo, Japan**

 **IS Academy**

All eyes were on the television as it was reported that Freedom City came under attack from what appeared to be USN wanzers. The entire world was in a state of shock as none could believe that the USN would do such a thing. The USN was already denying these allegations as they claimed that those pilots were with the USN. Right now an investigation has been initiated and the pilot was being interrogated. But what shocked the world to its core were the two Zenith pilots that saved the nearly defenceless city from this surprise attack.

" **We are live right now in OCU's Freedom City in Huffman Island as the two Zenith wanzers are making their way back into the base. A crowd has already surrounded the base's main gates, cheering whoever is piloting those machines."**

The entire world watched as the two OCU wanzers stopped right at the gate to meet with the crowd. Both chests made a hissing noise as it sprung to life.

" **I can't believe my eyes!"** The reporter gasped as the crowd broke out into even louder cheers.

Chifuyu dropped her clipboard as her mouth was wide open. Stepping out of the wanzers was none other than Jed Gordon and Ichika Orimura. The entire cafeteria had broken out into chatter as the students were watching their beloved teacher's little brother stepping out of an OCU wanzer.

" **It has been confirmed, the two pilots are cadets of the OCU's Freedom City Military Academy. I can't believe my eyes, that's Colonel Gordon's son Jed and Chifuyu Orimura's little brother Ichika! These two army cadets have risked their lives and saved Freedom City!"**

Charlotte, who was in the cafeteria, had her hands cover her mouth in shock. Her childhood friends had just tasted real combat. They had gone out of their way to risk their lives. Near her side was Houki Shinonono, from what she had found out, she was Ichika's very first childhood friend but was taken away by the government because of her older sister Tabane, the creator of the IS. The brunette's eyes were wide with horror. It was clear as day for the blonde Frenchwoman, Houki also had feelings for Ichika despite being so far apart for so long.

" **Attention!"**

The two cadets sprang into action and saluted the General as he walked past the gates and approached the two.

" **At ease you two."** General Greenland smiled at the two. **"Both of you had gone above and beyond the call of duty. The people of Freedom City owes you their lives. Tell me… how many hours have you logged in the simulators?"**

" **We both logged fifteen thousand, four hundred and seventy-nine hours, sir."** Ichika replied. **"Including all the sleepless nights."**

The room broke out into more chatter.

"Fifteen thousand hours?" The girls began to whisper.

"Are they crazy?"

"Who would even do something like that?"

"That's Chifuyu-sama's little brother for you."

Chifuyu on the other hand just had her eyes open wide as everyone heard the General laugh with the myriad of reporters trying to get an interview with them.

" **Now that's what I call dedication!"** Greenland turned to his aide and grabbed two cases. Opening them he revealed to the crowd the Cross of Honour and Valour, the highest military honor one could ever have in the OCU. **"You both have done the OCU proud today by single-handedly defending not only your city, but your country. The OCU owes you a great debt today. You two are now one of the finest wanzer pilots. You just took down Blizzaia wanzers and came out unscathed. Your actions today will be remembered for generations to come. So as your General, I am officially giving you an early graduation… here… and now."**

The crowd went wild as joyful cries went out to the surprised cadets… no- these two are soldiers now. Chifuyu was being racked with emotions as this was not what she had expected. It was already bad enough that her brother joined the OCU's military, but for him to earn a battlefield commission so soon… it was a nightmare. Her little brother was growing up way too fast.

" **Along with the Cross of Honour and Valour, you two have earned yourself a battlefield commission. Graduating at the rank of lieutenant. You two are the finest pilots I have ever seen in a long a time…"** The general then produced two blue berets with a golden cross in the middle and handed it to them. **"Welcome to the OCU's Special Forces!"**

Both cadets' jaws dropped.

The cafeteria was so silent, a pin could be heard.

" **Welcome to the elite Southern Cross Company!"**

It was at that moment, the world was silent.

 **[Outro: The Liberation of Gracemeria – Ace Combat 6 OST]**

 **NA: Phew… that was quite the first chapter.**

 **Jed Gordon by the way is not OC, Elsa Eliane isn't either… Jed is from Front Mission Evolved while Elsa is from Front Mission 4 who was also referenced in Front Mission 5.**


	4. The Far Side of the Galaxy

**NA: So here it is folks! The rewrite to Valkyrie, thanks to the game Dreadnought I got several new ideas as to how to rewrite the story. This time I will try and balance ground combat and ship combat and won't go too crazy with adding stuff into the story. There will be aliens of course, I will mix elements from various sci-fi series into it and create an entirely new universe. So don't be surprised if I mix in Star Wars aliens with Mass Effect, and of course… Bodacious Space Pirates.**

 **I mean come on… the Volus are cool. Especially that pizza delivery guy.**

 **~oOo~**

The year is 2616, twenty years after a long war that ravaged the entirety of the Solar System, the great Solar War. Since then, various regions of the system have been recovering from the devastation of the war, a war that had lasted for an entire century. Though the Alliance had emerged as the victor, their hard won victory was bittersweet. All that they had regained was not what it once was. Several colonies on the moon of Saturn were left desolated, and the mining facilities destroyed by the Coalition. Though peace has finally settled, the Solar System was now a shadow of its former self. And so, many of its people left the system, migrating to other star systems where life would be better for them and their families. But for those that have remained, they have made their life as mercenaries, salvagers, raiders… whatever they could do to survive and make ends meet.

Earth, Terra, Gaia… the names of the birthplace of mankind. Once it was the pinnacle of humanity, now it is a backwater world with little to no resources aside from the ice mines in the asteroid belt. It was once home to more than three billion people, but now it is home to less than a hundred million, and though she slowly heals thanks to terraforming technology, it will still take time to bring her back to her former glory. For now, the people there make do with what they have. In the asteroid belt is Sinley Bay, named after Admiral Jason Sinley during the Great War where he had successfully defended Mars from a massive enemy fleet with just ten ships. Once it was a military station where Alliance ships would come for repair and resupply, now it is home to those who wish to start anew. It is home to mercenaries, former criminals, refugees, and just those who wish to start a new life, with a new identity.

It has been a century since the war, and more than five decades since the Alliance had since moved their capital to the Arcadia system. But of course most of the Alliance's military operations are more on peacekeeping and warding off any threats that dare threaten the peace they had fought for so long. The war had raged for so long no one could even remember what they were fighting for, all they knew was that they wanted Earth, the same piece of rock that had been so coveted by both sides. A pointless century long war where hundreds of millions died in vain.

What was left of the Coalition had been reduced to raiders while some fled the region to the Frontier Systems. And of course… others began new lives in Sinley Bay.

Such is the fact for one young twenty year old starship captain, a captain of red and black Renegade-Class Destroyer. Destroyers these days are not like their ancient cousins, they boast firepower equal to that of a dreadnought but weigh less in tonnage, though their armor is impressive their speed is even more as they can outmaneuver their enemies. The role of a destroyer is just that… to destroy their enemies with overwhelming firepower. Though they were lighter than that of the sluggish dreadnought, their roles were more akin to that of a fast battleship during the old wars of Earth. With its length at an impressive 440 metres long, it boasts impressive firepower with ten double-barrelled particle cannons for its main armament, six topside and four under. After that comes its flak array and auto-turrets. For additional anti-ship weaponry it is armed with Type-10 anti-ship 'Storm' missiles and M-78 'Dagger' torpedoes. But when things get heavy it is also armed with Fenrir-Class tactical nuclear missiles.

The Renegade's dagger-shaped design was a homage to one of Earth's oldes science-fiction films, and the ship has served with the Alliance with pride as the backbone of the fleet during the war. Though she has been replaced by the newer Vulcan-Class, she is still a deadly force to be reckoned with and should never be underestimated.

The young twenty year old captain, soon turning twenty-one, became the commander of this particular ship when he found it abandoned deep within Saturn's rings during a salvage job. It was practically in perfect condition, no real damages, or anything that would cause for it to breakdown. All she needed were upgrades to her systems, weapons, and engines, something that was easily come by in Sinley thanks to the surplus of military equipment leftover from the war. The captain found a good crew for her, and the original technician of her engines, a veteran of the Solar War. The man was thankful to the young captain for finding her. It took him half a year to get her up to speed, but in the end she was modernized into a fearsome beast.

After her six month-long retrofitting, she was rechristened the _Crimson Fox_ because of her red and black color and the addition to a new fox figurehead on her bow. The destroyer was a sight to behold.

He had only been captain for a year, but has already made quite a name for himself. Thanks to the guidance of several Solar War veterans in his crew he had accomplished several missions in this year. If it weren't for them he wouldn't be the successful captain he is today.

"Pops you in here?"

The chief engineer of the _Crimson Fox_ was a man in his early fifties, but was a veteran of the great war and one of the original crewmembers of the old girl.

"Right here skipper!" The engineer said right behind one of the massive fusion reactors of the ship. "Just doing some last minute fine tuning, just wanted to make sure she purrs like a kitten on our next job."

The captain chuckled and ruffled his golden hair. "How are her new reactors holding up?"

"Oh they're a beauty, far better than the ones she used to have back in the war. Gotta say, skipper, I owe a lot for bringing her back to us. Lot of the crew you picked out were her original crew."

"What do you think caused her last crew to get abandoned like that?"

Pops shrugged as he went back to work. "Probably desertion, lot of guys during the last years of the war just got tired. Her last crew probably just ditched her, damn shame, she was a fine girl with an even finer track record. More than a hundred cap-ship kills."

The blond whistled and grinned. He was the captain of a distinguished warship.

"You're doing a lot of us honor by being her captain."

"I'll try not to disappoint, Pops. She's my ship now, and I'll make sure she's treated with the care and respect she deserves."

Pops patted the young man on the shoulder. "I know you will, skipper."

"Captain…" A female crewmember of the same age with long red hair peaked through the doorway.

"What is it, Tayuya?"

"Those fucking reporters from the Alliance News are here."

Pops snorted. "The hell are they doing all the way out here?"

"They want to see the Captain, being from the frontier and all, something about his sister or something."

The blond captain sighed and ruffled his messy hair. "Dammit…"

"Skipper?"

"Just my past coming back to haunt me."

Following behind the captain was a glowing transparent creature colored in dark red.

 **The Far Side Of The Galaxy**

 **Chapter 1: Life in the Solar System**

 **Frontier Systems**

 **Akibastar**

Several young women in the living room of a house within the great domed cities of Akibastar were intently watching a news broadcast all the way from the desolate Solar System.

Five years have passed since the battle of Akibastar, five years since Nagisa's rise to becoming Atsuko Maeda the 14th and Chieri's ascension to Center Nova. The 77th generation have grown to become beautiful young women. Their voices have reached far into the Alliance and have even gained acclaim, though much to their disappointment, the Alliance refuses to give them aid as they fear it would trigger another great war. Fear and weariness remained in their hearts.

" **We are here live within a Renegade-Class destroyer docked inside Sinley Bay of the historic Solar System, where we, along with members of the Absolute Entertainment Protection Sphere from the Frontier Systems. This is Kate Lockwell of Alliance News Network, bringing to you live as we are about to speak to who is known as the adopted brother of the late Atsuko Maeda the 13th, a member of the ever popular AKB0048."**

"EEEEEEEH!?" Many of the members of the 77th generation screamed out in shock at the revelation, none of them had known that the previous Acchan had a brother. Many of them thought that the only family she had with her was her cousin Tsubasa.

"He was adopted." Yuuko pointed out with a somber look as some of the older members bore the same expression. "He used to live with us before you all arrived."

"I remember him!" Mimori exclaimed. "He was my age!"

"We always wondered what happened to him after Atsuko-san disappeared." Takamina said. "But to think he ran away and got himself a ticket to the Solar System… it's unreal."

" **There he is!"** One of the cameramen pointed to a blond young man in what appears to be an officer's uniform.

The girls gasped at the sight of him, those who knew him long ago were amazed at how mature he now looks. Of course to the girls of the 77th generation, they could not help but blush at how handsome he was. Heck those whisker marks on his cheeks made him look exotic.

" **Excuse me!"** Kate the reporter approached him. **"Are you Naruto Katagiri?"**

The blond nodded. **"Yeah… that's me. What can I do for you?"**

Yuuko's voice hitched, though the blond's voice sounded much older she could still recognize him. The way he brought himself and the way he looked, he was definitely someone high ranking in that massive ship. The worlds in the Frontier have been isolated for so long that they had actually never heard of the Solar War. And she shuddered to think as to what that war was like, reducing the Solar System into a backwater system that no one even wants to live in. Why would he even go there? It did not make any sense.

" **We just want to have a word with you, the people here from the AEPS have been looking for you for quite some time now."**

The blond looked at the media members of said organization, making him sigh and wear a look of weariness. **"Just when I thought I could finally be free from my past… you guys show up."**

That didn't exactly sit well with them. He didn't want to be found?

" **Naruto…"** One of the AEPS members stepped forward. **"Do you remember me? I used to babysit you when you were younger whenever your sister was on a concert."**

" **Yeah."** Naruto nodded. **"I do… and you have my thanks."**

" **You've grown."**

" **Yeah well I can't stay a kid forever now can I?"**

" **How is life here?"** Kate asked as she finally began the interview.

" **Well I started out as a salvager before finding this old girl."** The blond replied as he gestured to the ship they were in. **"Found her abandoned in Saturn during a job. Brought her back using the automated systems, it kind of surprised me that she was untouched. Pops, our engineer, told me that it was probably desertion that left her there. So I found some of the original crew and well… started out my career as a mercenary captain."**

The media crew's eyes widened at the realization. **"You… you're the captain of this ship?"**

" **Yep."**

The girls gasped, that was definitely a surprise to them that he would become the captain of such an imposing warship.

"No way…" Takamina whispered. "He's already a captain?"

" **I've already done a few jobs over the past year after getting her retrofitted."** Naruto explained and went over to the computers and checked on the maintenance logs. The cameramen of course got to work and filmed him doing his work. **"Honestly I was hoping that no one would find out that I live her of all places. But… people are bound to find out anyway… so no use in crying about it. What's done is done."**

" **It wasn't easy."** The blond's old babysitter told him. **"It took us years to track you down. We were vitally impressed with how well you covered your tracks."**

" **Here in Sinley you can become whatever you set goals to."** Naruto began. **"I wanted that… losing my sister… it… it destroyed me. I couldn't stay. So without saying goodbye I left and jumped on a smuggler's ship bound for Sinley."**

The girls of AKB0048 looked down, and unknown to them a certain blonde woman with short hair and glasses had tears falling out of her eyes.

Taking a deep breath he then went over to the other computers and checked on them as well. **"I came here to start anew. Here nobody cares who you are so long as you can pull your own weight. Sinley is a land of new beginnings. We come here to be granted a clean sleight. I started out as some humble salvager, and then as a mercenary captain out there making a name for himself. I've only been captain for more than a year… but it feels like forever."**

" **Morning Kapitan."** A crewmember walked by and greeted him in a German accent, giving the young man a salute to which he returned.

" **Morning Klaus."**

He really was a captain if someone who looked older than him would immediately salute him the moment he walked by. Those that knew him felt a surge of pride soar within them, their adoptive little brother is a starship captain.

"Good for him!" Chieri said, though somewhere deep within her she felt a sense of kinship with him as she too lost someone dear to her. But she was happy he had made a life for himself.

They then watched as the group made their way up and into the ship's bridge where the crew saluted him. Many of them young and old, all of them respected the blond.

" **Captain."** A female bridge officer operating the ship's helm addressed the blond. **"We just got word that the** _ **Tannhauser**_ **will be launching shortly. Something about the Captain Michael showing a new captain the ropes."**

Naruto chuckled as he sat on his chair. **"So a new guy is getting a front row seat, huh? You guys can have a seat, our job for today is just patrol so there's nothing special."**

" **We don't mind."** Kate said with a small smile. **"This is our job after all and people back home are curious as to what the Solar System is like these days."**

" **Well it ain't sunshine and roses, that's for sure."** A weapons officer quipped, earning chuckles from the rest of the bridge. **"And there she is, the** _ **Tannhauser."**_

Everyone in the living room watched as a massive ship exited the docks from the next hangar bay. It was massive, bigger than anything they had ever seen. It was far larger than any ship here in the Frontier, but what shocked them even more was that this meant that Naruto's ship was just as large.

" **The Zmey-Class Dreadnought."** Naruto marveled at the sight of the monster coming out of the hangar. **"My ship the** _ **Crimson Fox**_ **shares the same length but not the displacement. Dreadnoughts like the** _ **Tannhauser**_ **are a lot slower but make up for the amount of armor they possess. The** _ **Crimson Fox**_ **is a destroyer, she possesses equal firepower but is a lot faster. In a sense she's a fast battleship."**

" **The ships here are a lot larger than what we have back home."** One of the AEPS reporters commented. **"Amazing…"**

" **Helm, ahead slow. Try not to run into the** _ **Tannhauser.**_ **"**

" **Aye sir."** The woman at the helm nodded and pushed the throttle slowly. The engines roared to life as the ship began to move at a snail's pace. **"Control, this is the** _ **Crimson Fox,**_ **we will be going on ahead."**

" **Copy that,** _ **Crimson Fox,**_ **happy flying out there."**

" **Nice if you to join us, Naruto."** A voice came through the communication channel, it was the voice of a man in his thirties.

Naruto snickered. **"What's this about a rookie captaining your ship, Mike?"**

The man chuckled back. **"Just showing him the ropes, Nat. New guy has a long way to go before he can get to our level. This is sort of like his evaluation. So what's this about reporters in your ship?"**

The girls listened intently at the casual conversation the two captains started while being on camera. Naruto looked natural, not like what they did back during their first time years ago. In fact they felt a little envious at how casual he was with the reporters. It was now like they were watching a reality show.

" **Just my past catching up to me, Mike."**

All was silent at his somber words.

" **Oh… I see. Well you go on ahead buddy, class is in session."**

" **Roger that, Mike. Godspeed. Prep for jump and set a course to coordinates 2X7-90DF3."**

" **Well there you have it!"** Kate said as she turned to the camera. **"Life in the Solar System for one such younger sibling of beloved celebrity. More will come to you shortly. But in the meantime, this Kate Lockwell of ANN."**

Once the news had switched to something else. The silence lingered for a while before Yuuko tried to cheer them up. "At least he's doing well! I mean… I know he didn't say goodbye but… he had his reasons."

"But seeing Atsuko-san disappear like that destroyed him." Takamina reminded them. "Chieri-san here is the only Center Nova to have not disappeared. The others before disappeared into that Other World that Yuuko mentioned."

"But that doesn't mean they're dead!" Yuuko exclaimed. "If there is a way to tell him… maybe he'll come back."

"He must have meant a lot to you." Nagisa spoke up, making the others nod.

"He's our baby brother." Yuuko replied with a sad smile. "Atsuko-san found him as a baby on the same day she succeeded as Acchan. Those two were inseparable, I mean she did raise him. Like he said… losing her completely destroyed him. I guess he just couldn't stay, he couldn't bear the pain."

"Yuuko." Takamina turned to her friend with a worrying look. "Didn't you notice his kirara? It's a lot darker than I remember…"

 **~oOo~**

 **Solar System**

 **Renegade-Class Destroyer** _ **Crimson Fox**_

Hours had passed and the news crew just filmed a few shots of the crew going about their business. He was in his ready room, eating his lunch alone while reading the reports of sightings of raiders around the asteroid belt, some of them close to Sinley. On the table was the picture of his sister and a younger version of himself, smiling for the camera with bright smiles with their kirara floating right beside them. His red kirara whom he named Kurama, was once a bright red luminescent creature with nine little tails. But ever since he saw his sister disappear in a bright light… Kurama reacted to his emotions and turned its shade of bright red to that of a dark red. A creature that was meant to show the radiance of a person's positive emotions had become that of a reflection of his darkest emotions. Though Naruto wasn't a bad person per say, he just wasn't ever the same after that day.

"Quite a day, huh buddy?" The blond said as he scratched his kirara's head, making it squeak in delight at the attention his master is giving him.

The day Atsuko became Atsuko Maeda the 13th was the day she became a sister. Only at fifteen years old she fell in love with the baby, a new born baby with cute little whisker birth marks and blond hair. It was also there at the same time that his own kirara manifested alongside him, a strange red kirara with nine little tails. Nobody knows where he came from, he was just found in the garden of their house in Akibastar when a light enveloped the area. While Atsuko was not expecting to be a sister so soon, she refused to let go of the infant. He was just too adorable to give up.

 _Flashback_

" _Acchan, you can't possibly be wanting to take him in!"_

" _I can't just leave him."_

" _You can just put him in an orphanage."_

 _The purple haired fifteen year old looked at the toddler and just held him even closer. Her maternal instincts already naturally kicking in. "No… he's my son now."_

 _Tsubasa, Atsuko's cousin, rubbed her temples. "I can't believe it… you're really going to go through with this."_

" _You can't just say no to this face."_

 _The blond woman tried to look away at the yawning toddler. "Don't use his cuteness like that! That's cheating!"_

" _Whatever works, Tsubasa. And besides…" She lovingly looked at her new baby brother and nuzzled his cheek. "We have a new addition to the family!" She looked at the piece of cloth wrapped around the infant and saw the words on it. "Naruto…"_

" _Fishcake?"_

" _It means maelstrom!" Atsuko corrected before going into fits of giggles and resumed her nuzzling of the cheek. "My little fishcake…"_

 _Tsubasa pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Fine… do whatever you want. But he's your responsibility."_

" _Hai~!"_

 _End Flashback_

He picked up picture of his sister and him and ran his fingers on his sister's image. "If you're up there… I hope you're looking down on me, big sis. I sure as hell still miss you."

Kurama just nuzzled his luminescent cheek up against the blond's and comforted him.

"Thanks buddy…"

The captain reached into a drawer and opened a tin of mini cigars. He picked one up along with a lighter and lit it. Giving it a few puffs he sighed and leaned into his chair. For someone whose only twenty years old, he shouldn't be smoking, but certain events that have transpired in the past compelled him to do so. Cigars were a good stress reliever, and with what has happened today he damn well needed it.

Looking at the picture once more, he bore another somber look. Setting the picture frame down he placed the cigar back into his mouth and puffed a few more smokes.

"Smoking at this hour, boss?"

He turned his face to the see Pops, the chief engineer, looking at him with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey Pops."

"Something's bothering you, kiddo."

Naruto sighed and ran his hands over his messy golden hair. He grabbed his bottle of beer and chugged it all down. "Once we're back in Sinley those reporters are leaving, I'm not going through another round of interviews. I just can't handle it.

Pops pulled up a chair and sat right in front of him. "Then they're going, no questions asked. This is your ship after all."

"They just had to come here…" He stood up and threw his empty bottle at the wall. "They just HAD to bring up my sister! I came here to start a new life without ever having to…" He lost his footing and fell on his bottom, his back leaning up against a wall. He rested his arms on his knees and just bumped his head on the wall. "To just…"

"I know, son." The chief engineer whispered. Naruto may be his captain but he is still young. "I know you're hurting, skipper. But you're our captain, you need to pull yourself together."

"Y-Yeah…" He nodded and wiped his eyes before getting back up. "You're right. I have no time crying over it. She's gone…"

"You'll see her again, skip."

"Yeah…"

" **Captain?"** The voice of a bridge officer came through the intercom.

"What is it?"

" **We just picked up a transmission from the** _ **Tannhauser**_ **. They're currently engaged with raiders in the graveyard."**

"I'm on my way." He replied and turned to the old man. "Thanks Pops…"

The older man just smiled and nodded as he followed the captain out. "No problem, skip. I'll make my way down to engineering now."

 **~oOo~**

 **Frontier**

 **Akibastar**

" **This is Kate Lockwell of ANN, with me are several members of AEPS' media. From what we have gathered, the Dreadnought** _ **Tannhauser**_ **is currently engaged with enemy forces in what is known as the graveyard. Captain Katagiri of course has given the order to jump to the** _ **Tannhauser's**_ **location and aid them in driving the enemy away."**

The girls were back in the living room, all of them now once again intently watching the events unfold. By now everyone within AEPS as well as the underground networks were watching it as well, the little brother of Atsuko Maeda the 13th, leading his ship into battle.

The older generation of AKB0048 on the other hand clasped their hands together, praying for their little brother's safety.

 **~oOo~**

 **[Play: The Battle – Master and Commander OST]**

 **Solar System**

 **Renegade-Class Destroyer** _ **Crimson Fox**_

"Battle stations, Condition 1!"

As the ship went into warp, the entire bridge went red as the crew went to business. Each officer was on their station and did their job. The entire ship's crew was like a well-oiled machine, their roles were vital for the ship to perform at optimum efficiency. And right now the news crew was surrounded by so much activity that they were having a hard time keeping up with how they were going. This was no television show… this was the real deal.

"Time to arrival?"

"ETA 30 seconds, captain!" The helmswoman replied.

"Once we're in power up deflector shields."

"Roger that."

"I want an alpha strike on the nearest enemy vessel."

"Aye sir!" The weapons officers nodded as they readied the weapons.

The blond crossed his arms and smiled at his crew. "Time to earn our pay people!"

Seconds later the ship exited its short-ranged tactical jump and was met with three enemy frigates. Each of them a differing class but were all identified to be part of a pirate group known simply as raiders.

"Enemy frigate at one thousand meters and closing!"

"Fire an alpha strike!"

"Aye Captain, firing full salvo!"

The _Crimson Fox_ unleashed a hellish barrage of particle bolts, missiles, and torpedoes. The barrage of particle energy from her main guns had peppered away the enemy frigate's already measly shields while the salvo of missiles and torpedoes ripped it apart piece by piece. The news crew just watched as the saw several hundred people from the frigate being jettisoned into the vacuum of space. Their screams being heard by no one as they could only hold on to what little seconds they had left before floating away in their now lifeless bodies. It was a grueling sight.

"Helm, left full. Weapons, target the rest of the frigates, fire at will."

Both the _Crimson Fox_ and the _Tannhauser_ made short work of the two remaining pirate frigates. Their guns were already more than enough for them to tear them to pieces. And once again the news crew had to look away at the pitiful sight of pirates being sucked out into the cold void of space. One of them immediately went to a waste bin and vomited out his lunch.

"Sir!" The radar officer addressed the blond. "We got a massive signature moving in through a tactical warp. It's a dreadnought!"

"How's the _Tannhauser_?"

"She's holding up quite nicely… sir enemy dreadnought is a Zmey-Class!"

"Fuck." Naruto swore. "Auxiliary power to weapons! We need to take it down, NOW! Helm I need you to fly as fast as you can, do NOT let those guns hit us!"

"I'll try my best captain!"

At that moment a huge black dreadnought of the same class as the _Tannhauser_ jumped in and opened fire on the two ships. The only difference was that the pirate dreadnought had brought in a different configuration of weapons, instead of heavy plasma canons like the _Tannhauser_ wielded, this one had kinetic guns that fire munitions that could tear armor apart. And unfortunately for the _Crimson Fox_ , the enemy dreadnought got its eyes on her.

"EVADE AND RETURN FIRE!"

The ship banked to her left and dove as the pirate ship opened fire with her terrifying broadsides. The _Crimson Fox_ responded in kind and unleashed a volley of particle bolts from her main guns alongside the missiles and torpedo salvos. The barrage did significant damage but it was still operational because of its thick armor. But thankfully the destroyer wasn't alone as the _Tannhauser_ moved with its own set of weapons. The friendly dreadnought's heavy plasma cannons fired a wave of heated plasma and impacted the pirate ship's thick armor plating.

A lone shell from the enemy ship had impacted the _Crimson Fox's_ ablative armor plating, causing the entire destroyer to violently shake.

"Damage report!"

"Deflector shields absorbed most of the damage but one of our port armor plates got blown right off! Injuries reported but no fatalities! Those guns are massive!"

"Where the hell did these pirates get this much firepower?" One officer asked as the bridge started blinking red with alarms going off.

The news crew were getting a little worried that they may have bit off more than they could chew by coming aboard. All they could do now was pray that they were going to make it out of this alive.

" _Tannhauser_ , this is the _Crimson Fox,_ Michael can you hear me?"

 **[We can hear you loud and clear, Nat. You took a hit back there, you alright?]**

"Armor held us together but we can't afford to get hit with that kind of shell again. It tore off a huge chunk of our armor plating. Deflectors couldn't do shit."

 **[Understood, we'll draw it's attention. Do you have any ideas how to fight this bastard? This thing is not a normal dreadnought.]**

"How the hell could a bunch of fucking pirates even get this much firepower?" Naruto asked no one in particular but Michael heard him quite clearly.

 **[We can worry about that later, buddy, right now we need to take his thing down.]**

"Roger that…" The blond captain's eyes then lit up. "Weapons, punch a hole directly at its center mass!"

"Roger that skipper!"

The _Crimson Fox_ then concentrated her fire directly at the pirate dreadnought's center where the hangar bays were and just peppered it with everything she got. Her particle cannons had no trouble in doing the job as they were battleship-grade weaponry designed in engaging the heaviest of enemy ships. Though the enemy dreadnought's attention turned to the _Tannhauser_ and returned fire with her ballistic cannons, several point defence turrets still tried to take down the more nimble ship.

"Armor plating and deflectors are holding but they won't last long, not with this volume of fire." An officer informed the captain. "She's not built to take on this kind of firepower!"

Michael gulped. **[Nat… you're not doing what I think you're doing…]**

Naruto furrowed his brows. "It's the only way. Just draw its attention, we'll do the rest! Helm, slowly bring us to about two hundred kilometres away from the enemy while we punch a hole."

The helmswoman nodded. "Yes captain, ahead slow, five hundred kilometres."

Turning to the weapons station he gave them a fierce look. "I want you to arm one Fenrir."

The weapons officer didn't even hesitate as he nodded. "Aye sir… one Fenrir."

Kate Lockwell and the ANN crew paled at the mention of the name. The AEPS people on the other hand were far too confused as to why they were reacting that way. But that was only until Kate started blurting out.

"You have nukes in this ship!?"

 **~oOo~**

 **Frontier**

 **Akibastar**

The entire room went silent at hearing the 'N' word. The use of such terrifying weapons was banned in the Frontier for obvious reasons. Behind them Tsubasa dropped her glass, notifying the rest of the girls that she was there. The blonde manager's face had a look of horror, her own adoptive cousin would even use such terrifying weapons without giving it a second thought.

"Atsuko… I really wish you were here."

"Nuclear weapons." Yuuko whispered the word as it gave her shivers. "He's going to…"

Nagisa and Chieri had their hands up to their mouths. They both read on the history of the human race and their terrifying weapons. Though nuclear weapons were banned here in the Frontier, they then thought that such weapons were still being used in the core worlds.

Madness…

"Why would he…"

 **~oOo~**

 **Solar System**

 _ **Crimson Fox**_

"Fenrir is armed, Captain!"

"FIRE! Fry that son of a bitch!"

A lone missile launched from the ship's starboard missile bay and darted its way towards the hole on the enemy dreadnought that the destroyer made. As both the _Tannhauser_ and the _Crimson Fox_ flew to a safe distance, the missile just flew straight and true towards its target. The pirate ship's point defence weapons tried shooting it down but were too late to get it in time as the nuclear weapon entered the hole. In a matter of seconds the ship imploded and its hull turned into a bubbly deformed version of what it once was while fire spat out of every opening like a blowtorch.

"Oh my god…" Kate felt sick at the sight of the deformed pirate ship as it stopped moving. There weren't even any secondary explosions when the nuclear weapon detonated inside it. It just goes to show how dense dreadnought armor could be. The alloy on the enemy dreadnought just stretched in quick succession, no doubt several of its magazines also detonated from the inside. Though they were pirates she could not help but feel sorry for the people inside it. At least their deaths were quick.

"All hands, this is the captain speaking." Naruto spoke through the intercom and addressed his entire crew. "Enemy dreadnought eliminated… we've won."

Cheers then erupted all over the bridge as the officers shook their hands or hugged each other.

"You all did a damn good job!" Naruto continued and clasped hands with his officers. He then pressed a button on his chair and grinned. "Nice job out there, Michael. The new guy didn't do too badly."

 **[He might make it out here after all.]** The captain of the _Tannhauser_ replied with his own grin. **[Let's head on back, time for me to buy a drink.]**

"Roger that, helm… set a course for Sinley Bay."

The helmswoman nodded happily and engaged warp. "Aye sir!"

Naruto sighed and sat back down on his seat. This was exactly what he needed… ending his day with a nice bang. Turning to the reporters and media crew, he flashed them a grin that made them shiver. His hand reached into a pocket and took out the cigar he was using a while ago. Putting it right between his lips he lit it and gave it a few puffs.

Kate chuckled nervously at the overly cheery crew despite the fact that they casually used a nuclear weapon. Turning to her cameramen who looked just as scared, she let out an extremely nervous smile. "Uh… T-This is Kate Lockwell of ANN… we'll be back with more… updates."

 **~oOo~**

 **Frontier**

 **Akibastar**

Their eyes were hollow. They had just witnessed an entire ship implode in a horrifying way on live television. By now all the colonies within the AEPS will have witnessed this as well. The younger brother of Atsuko Maeda the 13th had just used a nuclear weapon in an extremely terrifying way. What was even scarier was that the DGTO doesn't even bother watching their broadcasts.

"Oh god…" Yuuko said as she had a look of disbelief. "He smokes…"

One of the other members looked at her friends. "What would Atsuko-san say?"

Tsubasa's skin was pale as a ghost after watching all of that. Her legs nearly lost strength as she held onto the table.

"Atsuko… I really wish you were here."

" _I'm a mercenary, I don't judge your ambitions, I only judge what you can afford. Pay my price and I will strike down the heavens. I've fought your war a thousand times and won them all, and on this day the blood I spill will bring down an empire, and the world will burn before your very eyes. On this battlefield... one shot can change the course of history."_ –Unknown Mercenary

 **[Outro: Violin Concerto No. 3, 3rd Movement – Master and Commander OST]**

 **NA: Well… that is certainly one way to start a story… use a nuclear missile!**

 **Dreadnought Alpha Phase was a blast, the Devs had done so much and I have spoken to one of them on what it was like to work with the legendary Dan Abnett, the writer of the game's lore.**

 **Hope you guys also liked the title of the story. I'm just paying homage to a very good book series and movie.**


	5. Starcraft something something

**NA: Got this idea out of nowhere but this will mostly be an experiment as I am simply testing my writing skills in trying something far more unique. But I do hope it all turns out all right.**

 **Chapter 1: An Ark in a dark world**

He was a child like no other, he was found in some uncharted world filled with primitive and violent Terrans. By some strange phenomenon he tapped into some strange energy not even the Protoss could comprehend, but all they knew was that he was unique, and they could not let the Zerg nor any other people with ill intentions to get their hands on him. And so Zeratul, Dark Prelate of the Nerazim whom they all revere as the Exalted One took him in and raised him as if he were his.

He had the face and body of a Terran yet he exhibited signs to that of something far more alien than the Protoss, his psionic powers were something else entirely. The Nerazim as well as the other Protoss could only guess one thing, he was a blessing from the Xel'naga, a race known to have created Aiur, the homeworld of the Protoss. Knowing that they could not let this potential go to waste, the Nerazim council agreed that he would become one of them, he would become a Dark Templar.

The infant could only look on at the mouthless Protoss that is Zeratul with curiosity, it was fascinating to him when he would tap his tiny palms onto the Dark Prelate's face while mumbling in typical baby nonsense.

"He shows no fear." Zeratul said to no one as he held the baby, "You are powerful, and with right teachings you will become a great Dark Templar… Ulrezaj."

Ulrezaj had grown up to be a fine man, having learned the ways of the Nerazim, he was personally taught and raised by Zeratul himself as he had been proven by many of his people to be the best teacher after the late Razhagal. Raising the child though proved to be a challenge like any other infant. Despite not being Terran, he still required a diet similar to a Terrans and his increased metabolism certainly proved it to be a difficult one, but thanks to the occasional Terran traders, that was rectified. But it truly amazed the many Protoss around him at how much he could eat compared to a normal Terran, but they all were reminded at how powerful he was, he was after a gift from the Xel'naga.

He had grown to be that of eighteen in Terran years, his golden hair was cut short tied into a small ponytail that resembled the cut appendages of the Nerazim, allowing his face with whisker-like birthmarks to be shown for all to see. He wore bone armor made from the creatures he had slain, declaring to the people around him of his victories over the Zerg. Zeratul was a proud father as he watched him grow up to become a strong Dark Templar. He watched as he crafted his warp scythe, a weapon used by the Zer'atai Dark Templars. It was a long two handed weapon that would contain warp blades on each end shaped like that of a scythe.

Ulrezaj was an adept fighter, he was as nimble as any Protoss warrior, yet his strengths far surpassed them. His body was fit from the years of training he had done alongside his father. His glowing green eyes were evident as he had manifested the powers of the Void, able to meld with the shadows and become one with it. Such is a common trait among all Dark Templars.

But one thing he could do that no any other Templar could do was turn into a Dark Archon at will, though the process was the same, he did not need the fusion of other Templars, though it had a disadvantage, he could only turn into a Dark Archon for a limited time before reverting back to his normal self, he would then be immobile as he would be under large amounts of pain, rendering him vulnerable to any sort of attack. For him it was to be a last resort attack when all options have been exhausted.

The Void… it was a mysterious entity that not even the Nerazim had fully understood despite having existed for centuries, and even before that the Protoss had existed for countless generations since ancient times.

Then there was the world builders, the Xel'naga, what baffled Ulrezaj was that his distant cousins the Terrans had two worlds almost alike in appearance, though the world Terra was different due to its advanced technology, the other was still young. The second Terra was an unknown entity to Ulrezaj's studies, but he had always wanted to know what it was like.

"What is it that you are studying about, my son?"

Ulrezaj turned his head to see his father entering their home before returning to his reading, "This second Earth, it confuses me as to why the Xel'naga would create an exact copy of the original world of the Terrans. We all know the Xel'naga were known to not only create worlds, but create life. They were obsessed with the concept of Purity of Form but never had truly achieved it before leaving the galaxy for another, but the one named The Fallen One, it was he who created the Zerg. Perhaps the Xel'naga had engineered the Terrans of this Second Earth to be something more."

"We may never know, my son." Zeratul said as he sat down, "But right now I need you to go with me on a quest to a Xel'naga shrine in Ulaan."

"Ulaan?" Ulrezaj's eyes widened, "Father, that planet holds too much mysteries, too much dangers that not even we could possibly comprehend. What could be so important that we would need to journey to such a treacherous yet sacred place?"

"The Prophecy…"

Ulrezaj could only stare at him as he let those words sink in, "You mean…"

"If our people are to survive, we must know how."

Ulrezaj's eyes then bore that of determination and nodded, "I will make the necessary preparations."

 **~oOo~**

 **Many hours later**

 **Xel'naga world of Ulaan**

 _The Zerg came, as was foretold._ _And the protoss, firstborn of the gods, rose to fight them._ _Now, the Xel'naga that forged us all are returning. But do they come to save... or to destroy?_

Within the deep chasm of the planet Ulaan was the shrine that had foretold the prophecy of the Zerg. With their warp blades activated, they used it as a light to guide their way through the dark passageway of the underground structures filled with ancient writings of the Xel'naga.

Ulrezaj scanned the area as his father studied the etchings on the ancient shrine, _"Father, we're not alone."_ He spoke to him telepathically.

" _Remain vigilant my son."_

Raising his arm mounted warp blade high, the Terran-like Dark Templar slowly crept his way down the steps and passed through the jagged rocks to hear the faint sound of hissing and growling. There a Zerg hydralisk made itself known but was immediately cut down by his twin warp blades. He then deactivated them and grabbed his warp scythe strapped to his back and cut down another of the creatures with ease.

Zeratul did the same with his only warp blade, slicing the many dozen hydralisks in the vicinity while his son jumped into the air and used one of the creatures as a step to jump to another and impale one of the hydralisks' head with his scyte.

The battle went on for minutes as they cut down the dozen zerg with their bright green blades. At last the Dark Prelate killed the last one when he sliced of one of the hydralisk's talons and used it as a weapon to pierce the creature's skull.

But when they thought it was over, they heard the sinister laugh of a certain infested Terran, causing Ulrezaj to growl, "…Kerrigan…"

" _ **I knew you'd find your way here… eventually."**_

Zeratul frowned at the sight of the woman that was responsible for the millions of deaths in the galaxy, "Your very presence defiles this place, _Kerrigan._ "

" _ **Do you hear them, Zeratul?"**_ she asked him, _**"Whispering from the stars? The galaxy will burn with their coming!"**_

"Perhaps…" Ulrezaj said with a low growl as both Nerazim disappeared, becoming shadows.

"But you won't live to see it!" the Dark Prelate roared as he reappeared and jumped down from above. Unfortunately he was immediately stopped when Kerrigan used her psionic abilities to stop him from approaching.

" _ **Please…"**_ the Queen of Blades scoffed, _**"Our petty conflicts mean nothing now. A storm is coming that CANNOT be stopped! Fitting… that we should face oblivion, TOGETHER."**_

"NEVER!" Ulrezaj emerged from the shadows and sliced of one of the Zerg Queen's skeletal wings, releasing her hold on his father as they disappeared into the shadows once more. He held his father as the Dark Prelate painfully held his arm.

" _ **Fate… cannot be changed."**_ Kerrigan spoke once more as one of her hydralisks crept up to her for affection, _**"The end comes, and when it finds me…"**_ her broken wing then starts to regrow as she walks away, _**"I shall embrace it at last."**_

"The prophecy is uncertain." Zeratul said as he and his son start climbing up to the surface, "There is always hope."

Their journey through the surface of Ulaan was perilous, retrieving the prophecy fragments as they did so while cutting through Kerrigan's forces that had landed in the planet. It was a dangerous quest they had undertaken but they had to press on if it meant the survival of their galaxy, their home.

"What do you think we should do with these fragments, father?"

"We must have them deciphered, but we must get to the last shrine."

Just then they were met with Protoss ships from the air with a High Templar teleported down onto the surface to meet the two Nerazim with a battalion of zealots. "En taro Tasadar, Prelate Zeratul, Dark Templar Ulrezaj. I am High Templar Karass. My force tracked the Queen of Blades to this world – yet we know not what she seeks."

"We were drawn here to uncover an ancient prophecy." Ulrezaj informed him, "With your aid, we can uncover it before her."

"It is an honor." Karass nodded as he placed his hand over his chest in a formal salute, "Lead on!"

The young Nerazim nodded and immediately jumped into the fray using his blink and trapped a massive ultralisk in a void prison, "Hurry! Before the void prison loses its hold!"

Karass nodded and ordered his troops, "Warriors of Aiur, to battle!"

The combined forces of the Nerazim and the Khalai Protoss forced their through the zerg defences as Dark Templar Stalkers were warped into the ground to provide anti-air support for their brethren. The mighty Protoss warriors slew any zerg that crossed their path with their blades and particle disruptors.

"Nydus worms!" a zealot alerted them as four massive flesh worms with tusks emerged from the ground.

"Destroy them before they can deliver reinforcements!" Zeratul ordered.

Ulrezaj roared and jumped onto the first nydus worm, impaling one of its eyes with his warp scythe while the stalkers went for the others. Zeratul did the same alongside the Zealots, overwhelming the massive zerg with their blades, cutting them down for good. Ulrezaj was relentless with his attacks as his hot blades sliced the many appendages of the beast before striking its head by using his blade as a support to get him back to the ground.

Once the worms were dealt with, they finally reached the last shrine.

"The final peace of the prophecy." Ulrezaj spoke as he touched the shrine, giving him the final fragment, "It speaks of the one who shall… 'break the cycle of the gods…'"

"Most ominous." The High Templar said as he examined the fragment, "But if the Queen of Blades seeks this prophecy, we must keep it from her."

"The rest is obscured…" Zeratul said before looking on in the distance, "What!?"

" _ **You might peel away the prophecy's layers, Zeratul."**_ Kerrigan said as she appeared before them, _**"But you cannot outrun the doom that awaits us all!**_ as soon as she finished speak, a legion of zerg appeared before her, ready to attack at her order.

"We cannot prevail against so many!" Zeratul informed them.

Karass then stepped up to his comrades, "I will stand against the Queen of Blades while you escape with the fragments."

"We will not abandon you!" Ulrezaj declared in protest.

"The prophecy is more important than either of us!" Karass argued, "Reveal its secret, Dark Templars. The future rests on it!"

"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten… brother." He said as he watched the many Protoss go to their deaths fighting off the zerg.

As they returned to the ship with thousands of zerg pursuing them, Ulrezej heard the final words. **"Now… I shall become one… with the Khala."**

The prophecy… was as they feared…

Oblivion was what they saw.

Just like the studies of Ulrezaj, it spoke of The Fallen One…

 _The cycle shall draw its end. The Xel'naga who forged the stars will transcend their creation… yet, The Fallen One shall remain._

 _Destined to cover the void in shadow…_

 _It begins with the Great Hungerer…_

 _It ends… in utter darkness._

 **~oOo~**

"But… father."

"You must walk a different path, my son." Zeratul said as he placed a hand on his son's shoulder, "You must find this Second Earth, if what your studies say is true and the Xel'naga have evolved the Terrans in that world, they will play a pivotal role in fighting the coming darkness."

"But-"

"You must do this, my son."

"Where will you go?"

"I must journey to our broken homeworld…"

"Aiur." Ulrezaj said as he looked at his father in horror, "Father, that is suicide!"

"I must do this…" Zeratul insisted, "only the Overmind can give us answers. "Take a ship and a few of our brethren with you, they will follow you. Journey to this Second Earth, there you will make contact with the people. You MUST tell them of the coming darkness, we will need all the help we can muster."

Ulrezaj gritted his teeth and clenched his fists but nodded in surrender, "I will do it."

 **~oOo~**

 **Unknown Sector**

 **Dark World**

A young woman with shoulder length blue hair hid herself behind a rock as she panted for air. She had been living in this world for quite some time and for some reason these strange creatures begun appearing out of the sky. Creatures she had never seen before that knew nothing but destruction. These things functioned in some sort of collective as they gathered around a biological like pyramid near a formation of shining blue minerals.

These creatures of horror were nothing like the Darkness she had been fighting for so long. These flesh monsters were powerful, numerous, and over all frightening. Whatever they were, they served something that she could not comprehend. They behaved like insects, listening to what appeared to be the queen.

She couldn't get close to them at all, and just the sight of so much blood made her feel so sick, she was used to fighting creatures that would disappear when they die, not explode into a bloody mess. She was a keyblade master, and yet she shook under pressure at the sight of these monsters.

She was scared…

More scared than ever before… not even the creatures of the Darkness can make feel so much fear.

These things were abominations, and she was all alone in this accursed world… or so she thought.

She heard the sound of a thunderous roar and looked up at the sky to see a purple object with green energy plummeting from the skies as blue and green fire engulfed the object with winged creature relentlessly attacking it with glowing green worms from its mouth-like tails. She could tell the purple object was a ship of some kind but as it was, it was fighting a losing battle as it crashed onto the surface of this dark world.

Using what ounce of courage she has left, she made for the ship's crash site which wasn't far from where she was at. It only took her a few minutes to reach the crash site and what she saw shocked her beyond belief.

Beings with digitigrade legs came out of the ship along with a human-like person, all who were wielding blades made of green and purple energy…

' _They can merge with the shadows!?'_ she thought as she look horrified at the people. _'They can manifest the darkness and bend it to their will… who are these people?'_

She watched as these dark warriors sliced their way through the monsters with great skill while protecting their wounded, a trait she found confusing. People who surrendered to the darkness never cared about their kin, yet these ones do. Why?

She continued to watch at the power of the human-like on leading the dark warriors, using some kind of power to freeze the monsters in their place, allowing the machined walkers to fire their energy weapons at them. The display of power alone was scary. She was so distracted that she failed to notice that she was slowly surrounded by the dark warriors that had cut a path through the monsters.

"A Terran, what is a Terran doing here?" the human-like dark warrior asked as he deactivated his green energy scythe, the other dark warriors did the same, "Who are you, Terran?"

' _Terran?'_ she thought as the dark warrior referred to her, "I… I am Aqua."

The Dark warrior bowed before looking at her, "I am Ulrezaj, I can sense the fear in you…" the human-like dark warrior said as he stepped closer, causing her to step back. "There is nothing to fear from us."

"But you use the darkness!" she protested.

The other warriors looked at each other before turning their leader, "She must be referring to the powers of the Void, Exalted One. It seems she fears it."

"We are not evil, Aqua." The lead one said, "Yes we use the Void as weapons, we are Dark Templars, but we fight for our people, for the greater good. Where there is light, there is always darkness. But we cannot delay any longer, the Zerg will return to this location, and our ship is irreparable."

"We have detected a structure not too far from here, Exalted One." One of the Dark Templars informed him, "It leads to an underground structure, it is Protoss in design but not built by the Khalai."

"We will investigate it once we get there, for now gather the wounded…" he ordered them as his heart became heavy, "…leave the dead."

Aqua could feel the heaviness in his voice as she looked at the dozen dead bodies of Dark Templars by the crashed ship. She could only look on in sympathy as she followed the shadowy warriors into the nearby construct. It was a small doorway with interesting architecture as green crystals began to shine when they walked through.

 **~oOo~**

They walked for several minutes as they were led deeper underground, it worried her that she chose to follow them. It went against all that she believed in, against everything she knew and grew up about, and yet these people bore her no ill will, it was all so confusing. She could sense the darkness within them, and yet they weren't evil.

"By the Void…" she heard the lead Dark Warrior whisper in awe and heard the others gasp.

"It cannot be." The one Dark Warrior with his head sticking out of a machine gasped.

Aqua moved to the front and could not believe what she was seeing. Inside this underground alien construct was a massive ship nearly ten kilometres in length, it was dark purple in color and shaped like a dagger with large green crystals positioned in the center and at the front. "What is it?"

Ulrezaj could only look on in shock and wonder at the ancient ship, "It is an Arkship, an ancient ship used by my people long ago… but why is it here, and why is it in Nerazim colors?"

 **NA: And now we have come to a different version of Shadows of the Void, only that it is different. Been wanting to try this kind of story for a while but never got to it until I found the piece of paper in my basement… how the hell did it even get down there?**


	6. Voron

**NA: So I have decided to rewrite BODARK, my first fanfic, I will be changing this drastically but keeping the same pairing from before, it will still be Naruto x Nonna (From Girls und Panzer) and will be retaining the whole concept of the Elemental Nations actually being hidden in the South Pacific.**

 **The setting will be during Blacklist.**

 **Welcome to Voron.**

 **-Story Start-**

 **Chapter 1: Prologue**

 **Tehran, Capital City of Iran**

 **Special Missions HQ, former US Embassy.**

A lone gate guard was just doing his duty when a pair of hands grabbed his neck and head, breaking his neck and killing the guard instantly. Red eyes were shining through the shadows from behind the now dead body, a Voron operative sneaked his way through the Quds Forces HQ, slipping through the shadows as he made his exit.

"Command this is Lisa **(Russian for Fox)** I have the data, making my exit now."

"Good work Lisa, we have a van waiting for you just outside."

The Voron agent was wearing the Voron Special Ops Suit, better known as the VR Akali suit, one of the standard suits used by Voron field agents. Voron, which is Russian for Raven, was Russia's answer to Third Echelon of the United States, but were more suited for Shock Trooper tactics, while there were operatives trained for covert operations, many of them were trained for more 'brutal' tactics. Lisa was trained for both types of combat, he was considered one of the best in the field because of his unique abilities, having been born from lands thought to have never existed. They found him on the shores of the coast of Siberia when he was only 13 years old, having no history or parents, the agency took him in.

They were shocked at how well trained he was in unarmed combat and the almost supernatural abilities he possessed, wondering what or who could have gave him such skills to fight like an assassin at such a young age. Seeing as the boy had nowhere to go, he decided to stay with them, to learn the ways of this new world he was in, learning their language and learning how to fight like them. The higher ups were amused at how eager the boy wanted to prove his worth, seeing as the boy needed a new identity he was given the name Dimitri Andreyivich by the government. The Russian government was interested by the fact there were lands hidden by magnetic interference that rendered the place invisible by satellite telemetry. So they began to research ways how to reach there, the boy did not know how he got to Siberia in the first place, all he remembered was boarding a ship and blacking out when a storm hit them.

That was seven years ago, now Dimitri lived a new and happier life compared to the life he had lived before he came to Russia. He got into the van and sighed in relief that the mission had gone well, he took off his goggles and balaclava, revealing bright blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker marks on each cheek. Resting onto the soft seat of the van, he sighed once more, "Chyort, that place is a bloody fortress."

The driver chuckled, "It's a damn miracle you actually got in and out undetected."

Dimitri snorted at the driver, "Just get us out here."

"Roger that."

The white van drove off into the night, exiting the city and into the cold desert where a covert transport plane was waiting for them.

Despite the extremely difficult mission, it was just another day at the office for Voron.

 **VORON**

 **St. Petersburg, Russia**

An 18 year old girl was walking down the streets of St. Petersburg, starting her winter break from school. She was the epitome of beauty, her long black hair, light blue eyes, milky skin and elegant body were the stuff women would give anything to have.

Judging by the uniform she wore, she is a student of Pravda Girls High School, a school known for their art of tankery or Sensha-do in Japanese, a popular sport that dated back almost eighty years, it was a sport that was used to promote girls' self-esteem and confidence. But became an international hit as it became so competitive among the many schools around the world, right now Christmas break had begun and many of the students began going home for the break, her included.

"Nonna, wait up!" a voice came from behind the girl, the raven haired beauty turned around to spot a shorter girl.

"I am not going anywhere Katyusha."

Katyusha was a short 18 year old girl with blonde hair and light blue eyes, she was known for her short temper and impulsive behavior, to be able to tolerate her others thought Nonna had to be a saint. Katyusha is a third year student and also the commander of Pravda's Sensha-do team. She lived in the same city as Nonna as they were childhood friends, but much to her chagrin Nonna was often mistaken to be her mother due to her short stature.

"So, are you excited to see Dimitri again?" Katyusha asked her in a grin, trying to tease her, but knowing Nonna, she just smiled back and nodded.

"Yes, I am excited to see my fiancé, he should be back from work by now."

"Gah! It's impossible to tease you!" Katyusha crossed her arms and pouted, Nonna had a saint-like personality, able to withstand her impulsive behavior and the amount of teasing she had received from the girls at school. "You know, I know he works for the military, but he never really told us what kind of work he does."

"For good reason Katyusha, he works for the SVR after all, everyone knows how secretive they can be."

"Still…" Katyusha pouted once more, she hates having people keep secrets from her, even if it is from the government. It intimidated her though that Dimitri worked for such an organization.

Half an hour later they reached Nonna's home in the far side of the city, it was agreed that both parents of the girls would meet there. Nonna's father Vladislav was a military man, having been in the military for over two decades alongside Katyusha's father Sergei, and both knew Dimitri and his work with the SVR, or more specifically Voron. "We're home!" Nonna called out as the two girls entered the home.

"Ah welcome back you two!" Nonna's mother Ekaterina rushed to the door to hug her daughter, the woman looked to be an older version of Nonna but just as beautiful.

She looked over her mother's shoulder as they hugged to see that no one is around, "Where's papa and Dimitri?"

"Your father is out in the back with the others, Dimitri said he will be here in a few minutes." She broke the hug to lock the shorter girl in an embrace, "Ah Katyusha, you got taller."

"Yes!" Katyusha pumped her fist in victory.

The two women laughed at her boisterous attitude, "Come, both your fathers are waiting in the back, Dimitri will be here anytime now."

 **VORON**

"Nonna, so wonderful to see you." Vladislav gave his daughter a big hug, he was a big man but always had a soft spot for his daughter and only child.

"Shouldn't Dimitri be here by now?"

"He will be my little angel, you know his work is very demanding, but thankfully he has been promised a Christmas break much like yours."

Nonna sighs in relief, she will be able to spend time with her love for the holidays, every time he had to go to work she would always dote on him to be careful and always keep in touch, it was the only time Nonna would feel vulnerable.

"Someone talking about me?" Nonna turns around to see those familiar whiskers on each cheek, she immediately throws her arms around the man locks her lips onto his.

"Dimitri!"

Dimitri just laughs and returns the kiss, "Well I won't have any work for the rest of the holidays."

"Good to see you Dimitri." Vladislav approaches the couple.

"Colonel!" the blonde breaks the embrace and immediately salutes him.

The man laughs and shakes his head in amusement, Dimitri was always so formal to his superiors, "Come now boy, we're both off duty."

Nonna just latches onto her fiancé's arm as they walked to the bench, it was winter in St. Petersburg but like every Russian they were used to the cold and decided to have a barbeque in the backyard. It wasn't that cold to begin with despite the snow.

The couple sat down beside each other and chatted, Nonna mostly talked about her time in school and their loss in the Sensha-do tournament with Ooarai taking the championship. "Katyusha didn't want to admit but she cried that we lost."

"No I didn't!" Katyusha barked before making a cute pout, causing everyone to laugh much to her dismay.

"Dimitri." Sergei looked at the man with a serious face, getting the blonde's attention, "There have been sightings in Japan of these shinobi from your former home."

Dimitri and Nonna tensed at the new information, "It was only a matter of time before they started looking for me, first they banish me now they want me back, they were always so indecisive."

"Dimitri…" Nonna tightened her grip on his arms.

"I'm not going back Nonna, I'm not giving up this life I built, we're getting married aren't we?"

Nonna smiles and rests her head on his shoulder, there was absolutely no way she was letting him go. She then listened to them speak, discussing about the shinobi sightings, "What is the government saying about all of this?"

Sergei leaned back onto his seat, "They are not pleased that the shinobi from the Elemental Nations have begun searching for you, thankfully they are in a different country, but we all know it is only a matter of time until they come here to Russia. We can't afford to lose one of our best men to these people. The SVR is willing to fight them if it comes to that, but right now our people have more pressing matters to attend to, especially with these so called Engineers and their blacklist attacks, the government has become worried that the Engineers could strike other countries after they are done with America, we could be next."

Dimitri sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, despite not really being Russia's problem, they could not ignore the fact that the Engineers are an international terrorist organization.

Vladislav snorted, breaking the ice, "Bah, enough of this, let's just enjoy the holidays. It won't be for another month before we return to duty anyway."

Everyone nodded in agreement and just sat there, eating their dinner and enjoyed their family company.

 **VORON**

After dinner, the couple decided to go down to the park, one of their favorite places to spend time with. Nonna's arms were around his, gently smiling as she rested her head onto his arms, "So what are you going to do about these shinobi once they start searching in Russia?"

"They will be enemies for sure, they are no longer friends as I have already cut my ties with them. And if they are intent on capturing me, they will be going against the interests of the motherland, they will be making enemies of Russia."

Nonna closes her eyes, a lone tear falling down her cheek, "I don't want to lose you."

He cups her face, placing his head onto hers and whispered gentle words to her, "You won't, I promise you that."

"First the Engineers and their terror tactics, and now the shinobi… oh god what if the Engineers attack Saunders? They're an American school."

"We'll make sure they won't, I promise you that." He gives her a tender kiss, making her melt and return it, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I love you Nonna Belyakov."

"I love you Dimitri Andreyivich."

 **VORON**

Dimitri sat beside his computer late at night in his home, examining the reports of the shinobi sightings from Voron, behind him was Nonna sleeping peacefully with nothing but the blankets covering her naked form. The blonde sighed as he looked at the pictures, two shinobi, two extremely familiar shinobi, the first one was male, standing at six foot two with silver hair and a forehead protector covering his left eye. The second was female, five foot seven with pink hair. To think they would be looking for him. With the two were other familiar people, a young man wearing a very baggy jacket and glasses, a scruffy looking man with a large dog, a lavender haired young woman and a black haired woman with red eyes. Dimitri sighed, rubbing his head before hearing a voice from behind.

"Dimitri…" he heard his fiancé groan, "come back to bed."

"Be right with you moy lyubov' **(my love)**."

 **VORON**

 **Somewhere in Japan**

"Where is that baka?" a pink haired woman at the age of 20 growled in frustration, they have been searching for months now and yet no luck.

"Stay calm Sakura, we'll find him." a silver haired man reassured her with a single eye smile.

"Can't help but agree though, to think someone like him could be so hard to find. Are you sure we are looking at the right place?"

"Well the culture of this country is similar to ours." The hooded man reminded them.

"Yeah but, so far we haven't found any clues as to where Naruto-kun is." the lavender haired girl said timidly.

The older woman with black hair and red eyes nodded in agreement, "Good point, maybe we should look elsewhere, why not the nearby countries?"

"Then where too, if we don't find Naruto within a week, Tsunade-sama is going to be sending more to look for him."

"Then we better get to it people." Kakashi ordered, "Let's try the country of China first, after that we head into Russia."

Sakura could only sigh, "Where are you Naruto-baka?"

 **NA: And there you have it! The Prologue of Voron finished, so once again Girls und Panzer is in the crossover, and Saunders could be affected by the Blacklist, seeing as it is an American school, this is going to get messy.**

 **I cannot wait till Dimitri/Naruto meets Fourth Echelon, oh the conflict that will make!**

 **See you guys later!**


	7. Witchblade

**NA: I wasn't happy when I reread Arctic Fox… I guess it was sort of too cliché, so I decided to rewrite it and replace it with something a bit more unique.**

 **So the universe in this isn't exactly MCU but it does mix in some elements from it. Yes it is also crossing with Percy Jackosn, Naruto verse will be introduced in a chapter or 2.**

 **~oOo~**

There was a misty land hidden within the world of Midgard, where humans possessed powers like no other. They had the power to manipulate the elements, move from spot to another in the blink of an eye, manipulate reality, and so much more. It was a land of miracles, but also a time of chaos. People craved for power, they lusted over the simplest of things. And because they had such immense power, they thought they could do whatever they want. These people were known as shinobi.

While it was a land of miracles, wars and skirmishes were a constant thing. Over the smallest of reasons, they went to war, over the tiniest of objects, they fought. Greed had become a part of this certain society, and because of it… children became a part of it, at the earliest age of eight, they were trained and taught to kill. The world of Midgard during this time had already endured three world wars, but then came the fourth.

Against all odds, a single human with powers beyond any of the people, saved this world and its inhabitants. She had absorbed the powers of the Rabbit goddess known as Kaguya. She had become the most powerful shinobi, but it came at a price. While she was technically still human, she had become immortal, ageless, though she has yet to see her friends grow old and die, she knew that day would come.

But all that changed with the untimely arrival of a certain Prince of Asgard, Loki Odinson. One of black hair and green eyes. The beauty of this female immortal human caught his eyes… and his heart. She had a beauty like no other, and because of the power within her she was forever ageless. She was a kind and gentle, while a pacifist, she was no strange to the horrors of war and would fight for those she cared for. Loki fell madly in love with her, while he rarely received love from his father Odin, the love he received from this woman was powerful than any force in the universe, a love so potent, he no longer desired the affection and attention from his father.

This woman's name was Naruko Uzumaki, that of gold hair and eyes bluer than the skies of Asgard. She was Naruko the kind, Naruko the fair, Naruko the gentle, and Naruko the loving. When the two met, Loki showed her that there were worlds beyond, he showed her the nine realms. Because she was a great warrior with immense strength that rivalled that of Odin, she was granted entrance to Asgard… and from then she lived a life of peace, falling in love with Loki, and bearing him a child, a daughter.

And her name was Aurelia Lokisdottir, crown princess of Asgard.

Loki was at first afraid that the Allfather Odin would banish their daughter like he did with his other previous children. But Naruko openly challenged him, declaring to the public that she would rather die than be separated from her family. No one in Asgardian history has ever defied the Allfather, and yet here was this woman, more courageous than any being in the universe, doing so in a heartbeat.

Instead of feeling the wrath of Odin, she instead got a chuckle. Odin in all his days had never been more amused by such a bold action, thus Aurelia was allowed to stay and grow up in Asgard.

As for the princess, she was a spitting image of her mother with her blonde hair and face but with no whisker marks, and in turn she inherited her father's green eyes. She inherited both the ability to shape chakra and use magic, making her an extremely unique sorceress.

She had grown up to become a very beautiful young woman. One with the free spirit of her mother and conviction of her father, she was a very mischievous girl, already famous for her pranks and jokes on her peers. Of all the pranks she had done, she was famous for dyeing her grandfather's – Odin's – cape pink. It was a very amusing day for the little princess as thousands of guards tried to apprehend her. But of course all good things must come to an end when her mother finally caught her.

Truly she is her mother's daughter.

And then there was her cousin, Torunn Thorsdottir, only a year older but they had become best friends and sisters with Torunn taking the mantle of older sister. She is the only child and of Thor Odinson and Lady Sif.

In time she had cultivated the desire to learn, her aptitude for becoming a battlemage was uncommon among Asgardian children but then again she was the daughter of Asgard's Master of Magic. She had inherited the affinity of both wind and ice magic, while she can learn other elemental magic, none came easier than wind and ice. She had crafted her own magical gauntlet for her left hand, a device that allowed her to channel magic at an even faster rate. At the same time she learned the art of the blade from her mother and Fandral the Dashing, both masters in the art of the sword. Combining her mother's style of kenjutsu and Fandral's ways, she created her own style of swordsmanship

She had no desire to take the thrown despite being in line for it, she openly said that she didn't want to rule as it was "TOO MUCH WORK".

Her father Loki loved her dearly, for she was the apple of his eye, his little princess. He was of course wary of the number of suitors that had emerged out of nowhere, wanting his daughter's hand in marriage. He wouldn't hear any of it, she was his daughter, and he would be damned if he was going to give her away that easily.

While the heroic tales of her mother Naruko had come to an end…

…Aurelia's was only just beginning.

 **Adventures and Tales of the Witchblade**

 **Chapter 1: The Jewels of Asgard**

Clear skies and blue seas. Such beauty like no other, even more beautiful than Olympus of the Greeks. No other place in the universe is as glimmering than the land of Asgard. It is a land of eternal prosperity, a place where its inhabitants live in peace while still creating the mightiest of warriors. It is a land where technology and magic come hand in hand. It is also the home of a certain free spirited blonde Princess of Asgard.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

 **[Play: Where No One Goes by Jonsi]**

Up in the sky an object sped through the clouds with magic runes on her back, going past the speed of sound. She grinned madly as he eyes were currently covered by goggles. She felt free as her body touched the clouds, speeding over the water as the waves smashed away from the sheer force of the shockwave. And all this time she hadn't stopped grinning, laughing and squealing. Activating from one magic rune to another, she made extremely tight turns without losing an ounce of speed.

Passing through the many towers in the city to mountain ranges, skillfully making tight turns and loops, she laughed away, enjoying the wonders of flying high in the skies.

But of course all good things must come to an end… especially when it comes to landing.

"Okay." The blonde exhaled and gulped down nervously as she eyed the spot where she chose to land, an open area in the palace grounds. "Just like in theory… only that I have to actually do it." she pushed her arms forward as the ground became nearer, "Oh Valhalla… this is going to hurt!"

 ***BOOM***

The explosion and impact rocked the grounds around it with sheer force as dust began to settle back onto the ground. A large crater about ten times larger than the young woman was formed with her at the bottom of it.

"Owwie…" she whimpered in pain, though there are no wounds and bruises on her, she still felt the pain of her body slamming onto the surface. As the dust settled, a figure stood before her, clad in silver coloured armor with bright gold hair dancing along the soft wind. She had her hands on her hips and intently staring at the girl currently on the ground, "Oh hello Turonn, good morning."

Torunn to her credit deadpanned at her surrogate younger sister/cousin, "Flying and crashing in the morning again, dear cousin?"

"My landing still needs a little work." Aurelia groaned and finally got on her two feet, rubbing her posterior as she did so.

"Clearly it does." The older blonde rolled her eyes before letting out a long exasperated sigh, "Honestly Aurelia, you're skipping classes… AGAIN."

"But they're boring and serve no purpose!" The younger blonde pouted and folder her arms, "I have already started theoretical and historic studies on my own and father is already teaching me on magical and alchemy. I have formed my own style of swordsmanship by combining the styles of mother's kenjutsu and uncle Fandral's style of swordsmanship. What more do I need!?"

"There are still political lessons you need to attend."

"I HATE POLITICS!" Aurelia raved, "It holds no purpose and I have absolutely no desire to sit on the throne!" she then pointed a finger at her surrogate older sister, "That's your job!"

Torunn lets out another sigh and runs her fingers on her hair, "But what if you get chosen to rule instead of me?"

"Then I will simply refuse." The younger of the two princesses haughtily declared.

The older of the two deadpanned, "Of course you would."

Despite being cousins, the two Princesses of Asgard acted more like very close sisters, they were also best friends. Only a year apart with Torunn being the eldest, these two had gained the love and affection from all of Asgard. Torunn the fair, and the brave for her, aside from her blonde hair she was a spitting image of her mother Sif. Aurelia the intellectual, the cunning, and also the fair, who also unofficially became the Wolf Princess for her love of Midgardian wolves, the number she has kept as pets almost counted in the hundreds. She even has a building just for them where she can watch over and raise them.

Aurelia was known for her intellect and cunning, just like her father she dabbled into sorcery and alchemy, crafting numerous spells and potions for use. And also just like her mother, she was a skilled swordswoman. Using knowledge that she learned, she forged her own katana.

She loved studying theories and history, learning about the histories of both Asgard and her mother's home of the Elemental Nations during Midgard's ancient times. It was like reading stories… only that they were far more complex than simple stories. Because of this she was quite knowledgeable in Midgard's current technology, even more knowledgeable than Sif.

Which also came to another problem… she discovered video games.

The day she brought home every video game console from Midgard, her mother did everything in her power to try and balance it. Needless to say they came to a compromise, so long as she doesn't neglect her studies, family time and other important subjects, she can play her video games for as long as she likes.

Walking back to the palace, she watching her younger sister pull out a 3DS XL from one of her pockets, she rolls her eyes, "Honestly, I do not know why you are so fascinated by Midgardian technology."

"You are behind times, and so aunty Sif." Aurelia snorted, "You have no idea how advanced they have become. I might say in the next century or two, their technology could rival ours."

"Truly you jest!" Torunn gasped.

"I jest you not, older sister." The younger blonde deadpanned, "Or have you forgotten that Jane Foster nearly created her own Bifrost?"

"You mean that _woman_ who is still infatuated with father?" the older princess gritted her teeth, it did not sit well that even though her father was already married, that woman still had a – as the humans say – crush on Thor.

The day Thor was banished to Midgard to learn humility was a day Torunn refused to talk about. For she thought she was going to lose her father for good. Torunn nearly went ballistic as she loved her father dearly, despite his occasional immaturity. Torunn protested when Sif wouldn't allow to come with her in search of him on Midgard. Loki reluctantly and temporarily took the throne while investigating who let those frost giants in.

Though suspicions were on Amora the Enchantress because she too was extremely infatuated with Thor despite his marital status, it would be too obvious. Whoever unleased the destroyer on Thor later on was still a mystery and still being investigated.

As the two sisters passed through the large doors that led into the palace, many people still stared at the younger blonde's choice of clothing.

Her clothing consisted of a large green overcoat with gold embroidery on the shoulders. She wore a light green vest with red buttons over her white skirt with her brown gloves on the right hand while she wore her large black gauntlet on the left. She also wore form fitting black slacks with brown jagged pattern socks, and finally she wore brown leg high boots.

If described in Midgardian terms, it was very Victorian. But her choice of fashion was fitting as she was more mage than warrior despite her skills with a blade.

"I still do not understand why you prefer these clothes instead of armor."

Aurelia shrugged as her eyes were still on the gaming device, "I enchanted my clothes so there really is no problem."

"You are very much like uncle."

Aurelia raised an eyebrow and smirked at the mention of her father, "Oh you just noticed?"

Torunn flushed a light tint of pink, "Oh shut up you!"

 **~oOo~**

"Morning mum!" Aurelia chirped as they entered the more private chambers of the Asgardian royal family, walking up to her beautiful mother planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Are you not going to give your father a morning kiss as well." Loki playfully asked.

Aurelia giggled but stepped up to her father and kissed his cheek as well, "Morning father."

"I see you crashed again." Naruko looked at her daughter with an amused look.

The princess chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of her head, "My landing still needs work."

"Clearly." Naruko kept on staring at her daughter, "Now what is this about skipping your political lessons?"

"Geh…" Aurelia paled, the last thing she wanted was to incur her mother's wrath, "Ehehehehe… about that…"

"Aurelia…" the whisker-faced woman pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh, "You know those are essential."

"I don't like politics!" the daughter whined, "I'm already self-taught in other subjects and I don't plan on ruling any time soon. What use is politics to me?"

"They are still important daughter." Loki firmly said, "You may never know, while it is unlikely that you will be chose to take the throne, there is still room for a politic advisor." He then chuckled at the dejected and mortified look of his daughter when he mentioned the occupation, "I know you would rather go out and explore, learning what you find… but these lessons are still important. You may never know, because of your desire to go out exploring and adventuring, you could take the roll of diplomat."

Seeing as she could argue the logic in that, she relented, "I will attend the classes."

"Good girl." Loki then knelt down and planted a kiss on his daughter's forehead, "Now go wash up, breakfast will be ready in an hour."

"Yes father."

Watching their daughter go up to her room the, the husband and wife sat down beside each other and smiled, "She is so much like you my love."

"That she is." Naruko smugly said while resting her head on his chest. "Though she is far smarted than I ever was when I was her age. She's got the best qualities from both of us."

"That she does." Loki wrapped his arms around his wife before planting a loving a kiss on her luscious lips while running his fingers on her creamy skin. She moaned into the kiss that had her arms now wrapping around his beck. Their kiss deepened but then fell short as they heard the indignant cry and protest from a certain younger blonde.

"Okay… no, oh Valhalla, NO!" Aurelia went back down to see her parents making out on the couch, immediately she tried shielding her eyes at the indecent scene, "Not while I'm here! Why do you always do this to me!?"

Naruko giggled at the immediately reddening face of her daughter, "I thought you would be used to it by now."

"Of course I'm not used to it, you're my parents!"

Loki smirked at her daughter's embarrassed look, "So why don't you go on ahead while me and your mother – what's the Midgardian term again – ah yes, make out."

"UGH!" Aurelia groaned as she hotly left the living room and closed the door behind her, a massive flush still plastered on her face.

"Now then…" Naruko said in a sultry tone while licking her lips, "Where were we?"

 **~oOo~**

"Walked in your parents again?" Torun looked at her sister with an amused look.

"For the fifth time this week." Aurelia huffed as they walked down to the dining room to meet their grandmother Frigga.

"Ah good morning you two." The woman smiled at her two granddaughters.

"Good morning grandmother." The two princesses greeted her in unison.

"Even if you two are cousins… both of you truly act like cousins." The queen of Asgard looked at the two with an amused and proud look at how beautiful the two had become. Truly you two are the jewels of Asgard."

Both girls had the decency to blush at the compliment, but even so it was true. These two girls were by far the most beautiful young women in all of Asgard, possibly even the universe. While Naruko and Sif were extremely beautiful, their daughters had inherited the best traits from their parents, creating something not even the word beauty could comprehend. Something the Greek goddess Aphrodite hates them for.

Speaking of the Greeks, the relationship hasn't been too well ever since it had been revealed that Naruko was the daughter of none other than Greek sun god Apollo. Naruko had become furious that her father had been alive all this time and made no effort to come get her. Within camp half-blood, she denounced him as her father, completely cutting ties. If there was one thing Naruko valued most, it was family… something the Asgardians completely agreed on.

Odin found new respect for his daughter-in-law, she certainly did not act like a Greek. He even grew fond of his granddaughter Aurelia for she was the only one brave enough to pull a prank on him. It was certainly amusing to see his wife Frigga laugh for an entire day after for a pink cape.

Frigga looked at her youngest granddaughter and brought up an amused look, "I am guessing that you walked in on your parents once again."

Aurelia groaned while her grandmother chuckled.

"Oh come now, granddaughter." The queen of Asgard stroke the young woman's cheek, "Your parents simply love each other unconditionally."

"Still doesn't make it any easier for me."

"Just leave them be." Frigga said as the servants began bringing in the food, "Now come… breakfast is ready."

"Is grandfather not joining us today?" Torunn asked.

"Unfortunately no… he is doing business with the other leaders of the nine realms at the moment and it will be for some time."

"I see." The two princesses were quite disheartened by that.

"Ah daughter, niece!" Thor walked in with Sif followed by a glowing Naruko and Loki. "How fair the Jewels of Asgard?"

"Very good, father." Torunn went up to greet him with a hug. "Aurelia nearly succeeded in her high speed landing."

"Really now?"

"No."

Aurelia to her credit pouted cutely, "At least I can fly faster than you."

"Would you like to test that, dear sister?" Torunn retorted and sent her cousin a challenging look.

"Girls." Both Sif and Naruko glared at their respective daughters, causing them to shrink and sit down.

"Yes mother/mum." They both responded accordingly.

"Now then." Frigga chuckled, "Shall we partake of this breakfast or shall we let it go cold?"

 **~oOo~**

 **Some hours later**

Aurelia was in her lab where all kinds of research and findings were being kept. While her father was definitely the Master of Magic, she had taken up the role of knowledge seeker and scribe. It was her passion to seek all kinds of knowledge, it was her desire to never seek perfection in all things as it would mean that there was no longer a reason to keep learning. She did not believe in perfection, she always found ways to improve.

Behind her resting on a giant cushion was an Asgardian dire wolf nearly seven feet tall.

Today she was improving her gauntlet, while it was able to channel her magical energy and fire beams of continuous energy, she wanted to see if it could work with chakra as well, and maybe perhaps combine the two energies.

The theory of combining magical energy and chakra was only that, a theory. Though if applied successfully, she would be able to tap into untamed power like never before. Imagine… recreating the Rasengan using both chakra and magic. And once that was done… the possibilities were endless.

"Jaeger." Aurelia turned to her proud wolf, "Shall we go down to Midgard today?"

The large wolf barked and followed his master out the door towards the Bifrost.

 **~oOo~**

"Aurelia… where are you going?"

The blonde turned to see her fellow blonde princess walking up to her in suspicion.

"I am just going to Midgard."

"Just?" Torunn looked at her skeptically.

"There is still residues of chakra in Midgard and I intend to study them, it is beneficial for my research."

The older blonde folded her arms and stared at her sister intently, "And what research is that?"

"Combining chakra and magical energy." Aurelia replied.

"You can't be serious." Torunn gaped, "That has never been done before."

"And I intend to be the first to discover it." the younger princess declared as she resumed walking towards the Bifrost.

"Combining two energies is dangerous!" Torunn protested as she ran up to follow her younger sister.

"I am well aware of the risks, sister." Aurelia said, "And I am confident that I can – as the humans say – pull it off."

"W-Wait, Aurelia!" Torunn kept on running after her, "Wait up!"

 **~oOo~**

"Ah Princess Aurelia and Princess Torunn, what can I do for you today?"

"Hello Heimdall." Aurelia greeted the gatekeeper, "I need a way down to Midgard, there are still some residue of chakra and I intend to gather what samples are left."

"Very well princess." The gatekeeper nodded as he looked at Torunn, "I am to assume that Lady Torunn will be accompanying you as well?"

"Yes." Torunn nodded.

"Please inform our parents where we are."

"Of course Lady Aurelia." Heimdall nodded and activated the Bifrost.

 **~oOo~**

 **Camp Half-Blood**

 **Manhattan, New York**

It was just a normal day in Camp Half-Blood, with the secret war against Gaea over, the demigod children of the Olympians have fallen into a long peace with the occasional monsters popping here and there.

Two certain demigods, one with black haired young man and the other a golden hair young woman were cuddling by the small lake in the camp. These two were in order was Percy Jackson, the demigod son of Poseidon and Annabeth Chase, demigod daughter of Athena. The heroes of Olympus to be exact.

They were just enjoying their company with each other when they heard the skies crackle violently.

"Is it Zeus in another fit again?" Percy deadpanned.

"Maybe… not." Annabeth replied but then saw light coming down, "That light just landed outside the camp."

"Should we check it out?"

She nodded and immediately got up and ran, "I think we should, I want to know what that is!"

"Wise Girl, wait up!"

 **~oOo~**

As the light of the Bifrost touched down, the figures of Aurelia, her dire wolf Jaeger, and Torunn emerged as they stood over the Norse markings of the wormhole. "Well… your descriptions of Midgard certainly did not do it any justice."

Aurelia chuckled as her older sister looked at the tall buildings and the obvious tall tower of the Avengers, a group of superheroes her uncle Thor was a part of, something Torunn wishes to be a part of as well since she wants to learn more of Midgard.

In fact this is Torunn's first time coming to Midgard… huzzah!

"So where do we go?"

"Right…" Aurelia was about to point towards the sign that said Camp Half-Blood but then grimaced as she immediately knew that his place is, "…there. Oh dear."

"What now?" Torunn groaned.

"We're at Camp Half-Blood… Greek territory."

"You… brought us… to Greek territory!?" the older blonde princess hissed.

"It was not my intent sister, I swear!" she was cut short as she felt the presence of demigods approaching, "We're not alone."

"Several adolescent and a centaur." Torunn pointed out as she readied her sword, "Possible enemies?"

"No I don't think so." The younger blonde shook her head, "But I wouldn't put it past me."

"Who are you two?" the centaur asked/demanded. "Are you two clear sighted mortals?"

"Salutations, Midgardians!" Aurelia greeted them with her cheery attitude, waving at them as she did so, "And no… we are no mortals."

"Midgardians…" Annabeth repeated the word, "They're from Asgard… but I thought their pantheon was destroyed?"

"It seems the Olympian council have been keeping us in the shadows." Chiron said, "What do the Asgardians want with us?

"We don't want anything from you." Aurelia replied, "I simply followed a faint energy signature here… now I know why. This is home to your little band of demigods isn't it?" she then patted the giant wolf who was growling at the centaur, "Oh hush now Jaeger, we are not here to fight. You'll have to excuse him… he's quite hungry."

Chiron knew that the dire wolf was staring at him, after all horses were sometimes targets for hungry wolves. And he was wary of the strength of Dire Wolves, especially those native to Asgard. Legend has it that their strength far surpasses those of the Underworld's hellhounds, and that they were near impossible to tame, and yet this girl in front of him managed to tame one. "Who are you two, you are no mere Asgardians."

"I am glad you asked." Aurelia chuckled, "I am Aurelia, daughter of Loki, Princess of Asgard."

"And I am Torunn." Torunn declared proudly, "Daughter of Thor, THE Lord of Thunder, and Princess of Asgard."

Chiron paled, in front of him were two princesses, daughters of the princes of Asgard. What's worse is that he knew immediately who Aurelia was, she was Naruko's daughter, a legacy of Apollo. "Y-You, you are Naruko's daughter… that means you are a legacy of Apo-"

" **Do not speak of that name!"** Aurelia roared, causing the demigods to cringe at the power of her voice, "My mother speaks lowly of that good for nothing, and so do I. You Greeks put no value on family… tell me… does that fool still bed women even today?"

Chiron said nothing, he couldn't say it… it would mean angering the gods.

Aurelia scoffed, "Typical… even now he spits on my grandmother's grave." She then turns around and heads straight for the city, "Come sister… we will not be searching here."

"Indeed." Torunn frowned, even she had little respect for the Olympians. Seeing as exchanging words with those who do not value family is nothing but a waste of time, she followed her younger sister towards the towering buildings. "Will you be well, sister?"

"I will be… though mum will not be happy that we ran into this place." She then chuckled bitterly, "Did these fools even help the humans when the Chitauri mysteriously attacked?"

Torunn shrugged, "Father told me the Olympians forbade them in doing so, and it seems they do not even have the slightest inkling of Asgard's existence. The Olympians are blind and drunk with power, it's a surprise we are still are not at war with them."

"We cannot risk a war…" Aurelia said, "it would no doubt devastate Midgard."

"They should be fortunate." The older blonde haughtily said, "I would have loved to sink my blade into Olympian flesh. They do not even deserve their titles. But enough talk of them, it is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I wish to know about Midgard."

"Prepare to be amazed." The younger princess said.

"Why cannot we just simply fly there?"

"While in Midgard, I have learned that one must be subtle in order to – blend in – as the humans say." The daughter of Loki explained, "Besides, you will come to appreciate the wonders the humans have built over the past millennium."

"So where are we going?"

"The Avenger's Tower."

 **~oOo~**

 **New York**

"This city is amazing!" Torunn breathed out as she turned her head to gaze at the towering buildings, "Though not as beautiful as Asgard, it certainly holds its own."

"It does, doesn't it?" the two of them simply walked through the crowded streets of New York, ignoring the strange looks of the locals, mostly because of Jaeger the seven foot tall dire wolf. They were then interrupted by the sudden emergence of black vehicles with men wearing black suits and black eye accessories. "Oh my… it seems we have drawn quite a crowd."

"So much for being subtle." Torunn muttered, staring intently at the men in black with one of them with black skin and an eyepatch on his left eye, "What do we do sister?"

"I will do the talking." Aurelia said, "Salutations, you must be Nicholas Fury of SHIELD."

"And who might you be young lady?" the one named Nicholas narrowed his eye at her, "It seems you know my name but I don't know yours."

"Of course Nicholas Fury… I am Aurelia, daughter of Loki, Princess of Asgard. This wolf is my trusty companion Jaeger, an Asgardian dire wolf." She then pointed to Tirunn, "This is my cousin and blood sister, Torunn, daughter of Thor, also a Princess of Asgard. We are here simply to – I believe the word would be – sightseeing?"

Nicholas Fury narrowed his eye even more at the girls and the giant wolf, no doubt his better judgement would tell him to take them into custody but that would mean angering Thor AND Loki, not to mention Odin himself. And most of all these two are royalty, he would not risk an interplanetary incident.

"We are simply making our way to the Avenger's tower." Aurelia explained but could not wipe the grin off her face, "It is Torunn's first time here in Midgard so I thought it would be nice to bring her to meet her father's friends."

"We will escort you there." Nick said, "You..." he then looked at the wolf, "…three are drawing a lot of attention. So if you would follow us?"

"Sensational!" Aurelia clapped her hands. "Jaeger can follow us on foot. Come Torunn, riding a human vehicle is quite enjoyable!"

Nick Fury on the other hand was having a headache, he was essentially babysitting two extremely powerful immortal beings, along with their pet wolf.

But worst of all… they were teenagers.

 **NA: Yeah… SHIELD definitely got their hands full with this one. So instead of the Olympians from the Marvel Universe, I swapped it with Percy Jackson.**

 **Yes there are Olympians in the Marvel Universe, Hercules is a hero there.**

 **The Shinobi will be involved later on so it will be sort of an original story, though we might delve into the Guardians of the Galaxy later on and possibly the Dark World as well. So yes this is replacing Arctic Fox, I just wasn't happy with it.**

 **Imagine Konoha trying to get Naruko back… and by extent Aurelia. And then we have the problems of the Greek demigods to go after the two 'sisters' and keep an eye on them as Zeus thinks they are a threat.**

 **Then again Zeus thinks everything is a threat to him.**

 **Witchblade is a comic yes and I thought it was a cool superhero name for Aurelia, mainly because she uses magic and uses a katana.**


	8. Warframe

**NA: I will be changing the whole Warframe/RWBY into something different now that The Second Dream is released and I have played it… and it is AMAZING! The best DE has ever released for it, it's just superb.**

 **Now the lore here will be slightly different but it is to fit in the RWBY-verse, but I will tell you this… play The Second Dream and you will all start soiling yourselves.**

 **But thanks to the added lore, I can now finally write a Warframe fic much better than ever.**

 **This will be the first time I will be doing something like this to the RWBY-verse… so wish me luck.**

 **Oh, and another thing: LOKI MASTER RACE!**

 **~oOo~**

 _ **I am the Lotus…**_

Natah was a Sentient, she was sent to the Origin System to destroy all. She was tasked to bring the final sequence to bear and wipe out all that was Orokin, to wipe the last of the once great Orokin Empire. But there was a sacrifice that had to be made. In order to cross past the gap and into the Origin System… the Sentients had to sacrifice their wombs, rendering them barren. This flaw… they… she could not overcome.

And so she hid the Tenno in The Second Dream. She wanted to protect them, to take them as her own, shield them, care of them… like a mother would.

Natah was barren.

Natah was destined to be childless.

Natah wanted children of her own.

Natah had made the Tenno her own.

 **~oOo~**

A lone ten year old boy with black hair walked through the thick woods of a forest with dry tears ridden all over his face. He had just witnessed something that brought him sorrow, and thought that leaving the safety of his home would bring him solace. Today he had just witnessed his sister's admission to a huntsman academy, further bringing him more resentment towards his own family. And so he had retreated to his childhood friend's home before deciding that he didn't want to further burden the family… and decided to leave.

" _Hayden!"_

 _The ravenette turned his head to see his childhood friend Joana following him as he made his way out into the field at the edge of the forest._

" _Hayden… where are you going?"_

" _I…" The boy began. "I need some time alone."_

" _Hayden…"_

" _Let's face it Joana… we both know I'll never be as good as you."_

" _Don't say that!" The blonde girl exclaimed as she tried to reason with him. "You… you just need more time, that's all!"_

 _Hayden smiled at his best friends as a lone tear tricked down his left cheek. Stepping forward he placed a kiss on her cheek, making her blush._

" _W-Wha… Hayden?"_

" _Thanks Joana… for caring about me all this time."_

" _Hayden wait!" Joana tried to stop him as he disappeared into the forest but she was just too afraid to step into the dark forest. Knowing only one way to try and get him back, she turned around and went back into the house. "Mom, dad! Hayden's run away!"_

He didn't know how long he had run, all that he knew was that he had to keep moving. He had to get away. He would only be a hindrance to Joana, the only person who truly regarded him and cared for him. It was strange… she was the only one who believed in him, the only one who acted like family to him. So in order to repay her for that kindness, he would sacrifice himself so that she could go further than ever before. By leaving he believes he would be doing her a favor, and she would no longer be distracting herself by having to emotionally support him. With him out of the picture she will be able to unleash her full potential.

As he walked he felt this strange feeling within his body, a strange… force… guiding him through the maze of trees. It was this same force that kept the dark creatures of the Grimm away from him. It was this very moment that he realized he had some form of power within him. He followed this force and allowed it to lead him to whatever had in store for him. He could feel the power washing over him, a great and powerful force. Venturing deeper into the darkness of the forest he was ultimately led into some sort of underground structure filled with strange and eerie markings. It was no ruin as everything inside was intact. It was a temple… a dark temple, filled with that same power that guided him here. Venturing deeper into the temple he was led into a chamber where he saw a small golden relic shaped like a deformed oval. Feeling the presence of this force even greater, he could not help but become drawn to it.

It as if it was calling to him.

He could fell the warmth radiating around it. Around it were white walls and golden structures, and he could not help but wearily marvel at the beauty of the place.

Stepping closer to it, he held onto the relic and rested it onto his tiny palms. It was there through will alone that the device opened like a flower, revealing to him knowledge like no other.

He had been walking for a day now… without food or water. It was then he finally felt the weakness of his frail body and fell to his knees. It was a miracle that he had survived this long on his own, and now he was probably going to starve here. He was tired… afraid… alone…

But then he thought… aside from Joana no one was really going to miss him. He was unwanted by his own family because of his lack of talent. He was unwanted because he was… ordinary, nothing special. He constantly lived in the shadow of his older sister because she far exceeded everyone's expectations. It was always about her, how they showed their love and adoration for her while leaving him to dry. But over the years he just got used to it, and ultimately he looked towards the Arc family for comfort, and looked to Joana for love.

In the end he would have to walk his own path, and no longer become a burden to her. But now that path seemed to have led him to a slow death as he crawled towards the pedestal, within it was a strange armor of white, black, and gold. He slowly breathed as his mouth began to feel dry and his stomach grumbled. He looked further down and saw that his legs were bleeding due to the amount of walking and the fact that he had passed through some sharp and painful shrubs. He could no longer feel them as he had reached this place through willpower alone.

Slowly reaching for the keychain attached to buckle, he gently caressed it and allowed a few more tears to roll down his face. "I'm sorry Joana… I'm sorry for being weak and useless… at least I won't burden you any longer. You can finally pursue your dream of becoming a huntress… and I… I… I don't know anymore…"

His eyes became heavy as he fought to stay awake, but the weariness of his body became too great for him to handle, and in the end… he closed his eyes, completely unaware of the feminine figure approaching him.

 **~oOo~**

 _ **I am the Lotus…**_

She felt the warmth within his cold and weak body. She felt a maternal love towards the child that is before her. Gently slipping her hands under the boy, she lifted him up and took him in her arms while approaching the pedestal that bore a Loki Prime Warframe. She smiled and gently ran her hand down the boy's head and all the way down to his face.

"You… my child… my beautiful child… you have a bright future ahead of you. You will become the warden of this lonely world. And I… I will help you shape your destiny. Ordis… we have found your operator, prepare to extract us and the Warframe."

 **[Yes Lady Lotus!]**

Natah had found another to call her own.

 _ **I am the Lotus… I… am the mother.**_

 **Heart under the Blade**

 **Chapter 1: This Is What You Are**

 **Hours Later**

 **Tenno Liset orbiting Remnant**

 **Enroute to the Orcus Relay in Pluto**

The Lotus had taken special care for the child laying on the bed that she had prepared for him. She was aware of this secret world, for this world was the last bastion of the Orokin before its destruction. It was here that during The Collapse that they had sent what was left of their civilization, and it was here that they secretly flourished… but the shadows had followed them, ultimately evolving into the dark soulless creatures known as the Grimm.

It was here in Remnant that the legends of the Orokin Empire and the Tenno had faded into stories and songs that mothers would tell their children before they go to sleep.

The Lotus ran her hand over the boy's cheek as he opened his eyes.

"M…Mommy…"

"Yes, my beautiful child." The woman smiled at him. "I am here."

The boy whimpered as tears welled in his eyes.

"Shhh…" She shushed him and stroked his hair before sitting on the bed and pulling him into an embrace. "There, there, little Tenno… all is well now. There is nothing for you to worry. You will never be alone… I promise."

Moments later after Hayden had calmed down, the Lotus had made sure that the boy had food to eat as he nearly starved down in the ancient temple where an Orokin reactor was kept as some holy relic. She was not surprised that some people had took to venerating the Tenno as benevolent beings, in some way the Tenno were, but that was a long time ago and many of them had become mercenaries or treasure seekers. But even then the Tenno were not without their honor and their pride as masters of gun and blade.

He slowly ate his meal that consisted of some form of meat that tasted like steak as well as corn and mashed potatoes.

The Lotus on the other hand just sat there, watching over her new child. "How are you feeling, Hayden?"

"G-Good…" He mumbled while chewing through his food. "T-Thank you."

"Anything for you, my child."

His mother died when he was very young, so he never really remembered what it was like to be held by a mother. But now he is feeling that warmth, but this time from another person.

"I can feel your pain." The Lotus said as she once again caressed his head. "There is need for you to feel such loneliness my child. Soon you will become a full-fledged Tenno, and soon you will return to your birthplace."

"A Tenno? But… I thought…"

"Your kind are more than just stories, little one. You are no story. You have only yet to grasp who you truly are. You were neglected, unwanted, unloved… but not anymore. I will raise you and help turn you into a blade of honor, this I vow… my child… so beautiful to behold."

He had been complimented like that before, but when he heard her voice, he was soothed. When he felt her touch, he was warm. "Mommy…"

The Lotus smile and kissed his forehead. "Your story may not have such a happy beginning. But that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story… who you choose to be. So… who are you, Tenno?"

Hayden tilted his head up and looked at her as he opened his mouth to give his answer. "I…"

 **~oOo~**

In the olden days of the Orokin Empire the Tenno had founded schools to control their power.

Long ago an exploration ship called the Zariman disappeared when an accident catapulted the ship and its crew to the Void. Years later the ship reappeared, but all that was left were the children of its crew, leaving them orphaned. A woman by the name of Margulis sought to protect these children even though the Orokin wished for them to be destroyed out of fear that they could be too powerful to control the powers of the Void. They viewed them as abominations, unworthy to be even called human.

Margulis saw them as more than human, she gave her life to save them so that instead of being destroyed, they could serve the empire.

Once the Zariman orphans could be saved, their powers were able to be passed on to others who wished to be bound by honor. Many more had become Tenno through the Void… but many more became hated for what they are. Though they served the Orokin… many of those they had sworn to protect scorned and feared them because of their great and devastating power.

The first of these schools was the Vazarin way. They trained to counter the enemy, and moved with an opponent's attacks in order to nullify them. This school trained their students to maintain constant awareness in order to defend against all aggression.

The second was Zenurik. They believed that the clearest path to victory was to dominate the enemy. They sought to choke an opponent of all resources; that sheer strength could enemy resistance.

Then there was Naramon. To know one's enemy and that to truly understand a foe would confer the greatest advantage upon a warrior.

Madurai... Disciples of this school followed the path of facing the enemy head on. Their swift, uncompromising onslaught, holding nothing back and recklessly attacking their foes, could vanquish an opponent before they could get the chance to steel themselves. Speed and savagery categorized this school.

And finally, the Unairu. Disciples of this path pushed their bodies to the limit with their goal to outlast the enemy and withstand all aggression without retreat. They believed that if their enemy could not match their endurance, then a battle could be won without having even commenced.

Hayden had endured for a long time, his perseverance is what helped him shape to become this. So he chose the path of the Vazarin, for he, along with Joana, dreamed of aiding those in need.

"It's beautiful." The young Tenno whispered as he gazed at the Loki Prime Warframe that is suspended in the armory. From what his new mother had explained, the Loki was a trickster, quick and nimble. It had the power to sway its enemies through cunning. Hayden was once a prankster, using them as he desired the attention of others, but all he got was Joana and her family. But now he has found purpose.

No longer will he be weak.

No longer will he be unwanted.

No longer will he be unloved.

"This is your destiny, my child." The Lotus said as she showed her son the white, black, and gold Warframe. "Soon, you will don it and become a warden of not only the Origin System, but Remnant. For now you will train with your brethren, through them you will gain strength."

"What about you?"

"I… will guide you through your hardships, and help you forge your destiny through the paths set before you."

 **[Operator, Lady Lotus]** Ordins, the ship's Cephalon, made himself known. **[We have exited the Solar Rail and have come up on the Orcus Relay, we will be docking soon. I can't wait… the operator will – CREATE A BLOODY MESS – begin his training.]**

The Lotus simply smiled at the boy's startled look. "Come, it is time to meet the rest of your brethren. Don't worry about Ordis, he is just a bit… glitchy."

 **[Please return – COVERED IN BLOOD – safe and sound.]**

 **~oOo~**

 **Pluto**

 **Orcus Relay**

 **Conclave**

"This is rare of you, Lotus, you never come to me."

"This is different." The Lotus stoically replied as her 'son' stood beside her. "This is Hayden, a Remnant-born Tenno."

The man stepped forward and knelt down to look at the boy. Just by looking at him he can already tell what the boy is like. "One who is forgotten by kin, and found by one filled with mystery. You have endured the shadows at such a tender age. I can see it, a trickster who vied for the attention of others."

Hayden shrunk at the gaze of the imposing man. Shocked beyond belief that he was able to tell that much by just looking at him.

"I am Teshin, young one. I am the master of the Conclave, it is my duty to teach other Tenno the ways of gun and blade. And you have a bright future among your brethren. The summit awaits, young one, are you ready to make the climb?"

Hayden didn't even need to think twice when he asked. "Yes."

 **~oOo~**

 **Many Months Later**

To Teshin's surprise, the Lotus had come to visit every day, making sure the boy was well taken care of. It was strange, the usually stoic woman was showing great affection to the young Tenno. So while the boy trained with a Skana, Teshin approached the observing woman.

"It is strange, Natah…" The masked woman turned to him, letting him know that she was glaring at him and reminding him that she hated that name. "You never show that much affection towards someone, even a Tenno."

"I never had the chance to truly raise a child, Teshin." The Lotus said in a wistful and longing tone. "Hayden has given me that one chance, even if it is just for a few years. Long have I yearned for a child to call me 'mother'. He is beautiful, Teshin, and it breaks my heart that someone would simply forget him."

"You have watched over him since the day he was conceived."

The Sentient nodded. "You have no idea how I just wanted to take him into my arms and hold him. Seeing his own family neglect him for a more favored child, it sickened me. He found solace in another family, but more specifically a girl. So the day he ran away, I decided to finally take him with me and help shape him into something great."

"You have done this child a great deed, Lotus."

"I feel it is my responsibility to care for all Tenno…" She said as she looked at the boy who was training. "…even the young ones. They are all my children."

She then bowed to the Conclave master in gratitude before she approached her son and interacted to him. All the while Teshin crossed his arms and frowned. "A great storm is coming… and we all need to be ready for it."

At night Hayden once again experienced the moment of having a mother tuck him away to sleep, something he had come to enjoy since his birth mother died when he was young. While he lay on his bed the Lotus placed the blanket over him as he slowly closed his eyes. With a gentle kiss on his forehead he finally drifted into the dreams.

"Dream… my child, so beautiful to behold." She began and ran her palm over his cheek. "Dream… not of what you are… but of what you want to become."

 _ **What… I want to become…**_

 **~oOo~**

 **Seven Years Later**

 **Somewhere around Mars**

 **Infested Corpus Cruiser**

He was the youngest prime, but that is of no surprise when one was personally trained by Teshin at the Lotus' request. Everyone knew how Lotus was motherly to the Tenno, but to see it in person was a different thing altogether. The way she had cared for the young Tenno these past seven years had shown to all how much she cared for the Tenno as a whole. They all finally realized how happy she was to have in a sense 'adopted' the Tenno as her own, and to have raised a child even for just a few years was a blessing to her.

And now he is a fully grown young man, and was now donning his Loki Prime Warframe, combatting the enemies of his noble kin.

With his Dragon Nikana he vaulted over the mass of infested flesh that wanted him dead before coming down back on the floor and unleashing his Radial Disarm, removing the arms and legs of the infested as well as killing those who were far too close to him. He swung his blade around and sliced a dozen of them in half in a large arc. Hayden loved using the katana, for him it was honor to wield such a timeless weapon. It is said that many of ancient Earth's legendary blades were katanas from a nation called Japan. From swords made by the heavens to those that were forged from the fires of hell, each katana was forged with careful precision and care. In the olden days a katana would sometimes take months to craft. Today, thanks to Orokin technology, the time to craft one would not even take a fraction of that, and even then the weapon comes out magnificently. The Nikana was the first weapon he had ever crafted after moving on from the Skana.

This was the weapon that Teshin was a master of, and in a way Hayden wanted to be like him. With the Lotus being a mother to him, the Conclave master had become like a father to him.

The infested charger stood no chance as the blade dug its way through its skull and all the way to the other end, bisecting the deformed creature in half from top to bottom. The screams of the other creatures as the smell of blood filled the air drove them mad with frenzy as they continued their relentless attacks, but the Primed Tenno did not waver and just kept on slicing away.

The feeling of adrenaline whenever he is in battle, the feeling of empowerment, and the feeling of benevolence knowing what he is doing out here is for the greater good of all. It felt all so wonderful to him. He felt strong, he felt like he could do anything as long as he set his mind to it. He no longer felt that sense of inferiority that he once had when he was a child. The day he became a full-fledged Tenno was the day he became an adult. And the Lotus had full confidence in him, she wasn't protective but she still did worry, but in the end of the day she knows that he can do whatever mission is given to him. Part of being a parent is trusting your child with the tasks they have been given, and that is what she had done with Hayden and all the Tenno.

Teshin was honored to have such a Tenno as his pupil, he believed that Hayden was no doubt going to become one of the best.

With another leap he soared through the air and sliced an Ancient Disruptor in two before dropping down and killing another. The beasts just kept on coming with no signs of stopping. It was there that the roar of a Juggernaut that Hayden readied himself as the infested were thrown into the air. But before the massive creature could touch him the Loki Prime rolled to his left and completely avoided the fatal attack. Even he could not possibly take on such a beast head on, he was no Rhino. So instead of relying on brute strength, he will use tactics and skill.

Climbed the support structure and knelt down on a platform while taking out his Tiberon burst rifle. Pulling the trigger he easily mowed down any stragglers before going for the larger beast that was unsurprisingly angry at him.

"Tough bastard aren't you?"

" **Hayden."** The Lotus voice boomed through the radio. **"I detected a-"**

"Yes, mother… a Juggernaut… and he hates me. On the bright side this ship will be clean of infested intruders once I take care of the big guy."

The Lotus sighed. **"Trouble seems to like finding you, my son."**

"Well I am a Tenno, mother."

" **Indeed… just please be careful."**

Hayden grinned behind his helmet and shrugged. "I will… this is not the first time this has happened to me you know."

Once the transmission terminated he resumed his job of taking the Juggernaut down. It was certainly armored despite being made of flesh, but he could see the armor plates of several Grineer marines on it, many of them from the larger ones like the heavy gunners, bombards, and napalms. Seeing as the attention was still on him he decided to shift this by conjuring a decoy down on the floor.

As expected the Juggernaut shifted its attention towards the decoy as it thought that it was him. Because of this its unarmored rear was shown to him.

Hayden grinned and leaped down towards the beast with his hand on his sword's hilt. With lightning speed he drew his blade. In a flash the Loki Prime was already a meter away from the infested quadruped with his sword pointing forward. The Juggernaut on the other hand just stood there, unmoving. The black haired young man then stood up on a more relaxed posture and slashed his weapon downwards to his right, swiping away any excess blood that was on it before sheathing it. The moment the Dragon Nikana was fully sheathed with a 'clink' sound, the Juggernaut fell… with its body now completely sliced in half.

"Ordis…" The Tenno began as he lightly cracked his neck and relaxed himself. "I'm ready for extraction. Have the Liset pick me up at the hangar."

 **[Yes operator… I hope you are – COVERED IN BLOOD – unharmed.]**

Hayden chuckled at the Cephalon's glitchy personality. "Don't worry Ordis… just get over here, I wanna go home."

 **~oOo~**

 **Hours Later**

 **Pluto**

 **Orcus Relay**

"You have accomplished a many great tasks in such a short time." Teshin said as he sat with the young Tenno and shared some tea with him. "You have done well in fighting against those who wish to do our people harm."

"Thank you, master."

Teshin furrowed his brows for a moment as he poured the young man a cup. "But you must also limit yourself. Even as a Tenno your body still has limits. Even after seven years I can still sense that lingering pain."

Hayden said nothing as he bit his lip.

"Hayden…" The Conclave master called out to him as he handed him the cup of tea. "You need not strain yourself to such lengths because of that pain. You have already proven to them that you are not weak, they just don't know it yet."

Pursing his lips he held the teacup and inhaled its aroma. "I guess… in some ways I am still that child from long ago."

"You are Tenno, my pupil. You are more than human..." He looked around and pointed to him their surroundings. "But even with all the power that we have been bestowed upon by the Void we are not without our faults. We are still human."

Looking at the young man his eyes now had a sense of longing. "I miss her, master… Joana… she was the only one who cared about me."

"A Tenno's strength is not from within his own body." Teshin began as he placed a hand on the young Tenno's shoulder. "But through those around us. My pupil it warms my heart to know that there is someone you deeply care. So long as you hold her close to your heart she is never far away."

"What do I say to her when we meet?"

Teshin smiled and took a sip from his cup. "You will know when that time comes. Now go… your mother wishes to meet with you."

Taking one last sip from the cup, Hayden stood up and bowed to his mentor and father figure before making his way down the steps and out the door. Even if his next words were silent, Teshin still heard them.

"Thank you… father."

The master of the Conclave could not help but smile as he drank his tea.

 **~oOo~**

Many of the people bowed to the Lotus in respect as Hayden escorted her around the hallways. It was truly an honor for them to see her in person, the one woman who had been leading them in the fight against their enemies.

"I see that Teshin has given you words of wisdom once again."

There was no hiding from his mother. "Yeah…"

As they walked she turned her head to face him, and even though her eyes could not be seen because of the mask, he knew that she was looking at him with concern. "Hayden… my child… you know his words ring true."

"I know…"

"You should take some time to rest, Hayden. Maybe perhaps visit Remnant and see your friend."

He flinched at her words and looked away. "I'm scared that she might hate me for making her think I'm dead."

"I don't think so." The Lotus said. "Through the dreams I can see that she still yearns for you. Go… see her, and also find closure. This has been eating you up for a very long time, it is time you put it to rest."

He knew what she was saying was right. "Yes mother."

"I am so proud of you, Hayden. You have grown up to become a splendid man."

Seeing her smile at her made him smile in return. "It's all thanks to you and Master Teshin. Both of you gave me hope. I'll leave for Remnant tonight."

The Lotus nodded and smiled. "I bid you good tidings my son. I will arrange for a relay to be constructed near Remnant's shattered moon. Through there we can have operatives guard over the last of the Orokin's descendants. I will see you soon, my son."

 **~oOo~**

 **Next Day**

 **Remnant**

 **Forever Fall**

How long has it been now?

Six?

Seven?

She couldn't really tell anymore, he had been gone for so long. Ever since he disappeared into the forest and never came back she had been using her family's resource to search for him. But unfortunately the trail ended in a sacred temple of the mythical Tenno. Hayden wasn't very well-liked to begin with so the town didn't really care that much, forcing her to look for outside sources. But when her parents started to notice her behaviour added with sleepless nights, they were forced to step in. The result was her screaming and scorning them, she assumed that they didn't care about him because of his 'lack of abilities'.

Hayden was the youngest child to the noble Vederin family, a family known for creating powerful huntsmen and huntresses. His father, Elijah, was a strict man who places the importance of his family's reputation above all. He looked at his son and so only wasted potential, he didn't give him a chance and just gave up.

Joana hated him the most.

Then there was Hayden's older sister by two years, Harriett, the oldest of the two. Joana didn't know what to think of her, as she did absolutely nothing for him when he was subjected to cold and somewhat harsh treatment. Many of the household servants would talk behind his back, calling him someone who wasn't even worthy. Harriett was chosen to be the heir to the family's company, Vederin Industries.

Joana was the only person to give Hayden any real comfort since. His mother died when he was five. The only time he could see her face was on a painting in the Veredin manor's main hall. The youngest of the Arc daughters liked him, it was no secret in her family of how much she adored him because of how nice he was. He treated her like a normal person and not some princess.

He couldn't remember her name, but he knew that she was a loving mother to him. She died when Hayden was only five by the hands of the White Fang during a Faunus rights protest. It was a sad day for him.

Things had just not been going Joana's way ever since. The disappearance of her childhood friend and crush just completely destroyed her motivation into becoming a huntress, at times she's wondering why she is even in Beacon to begin with. She had no real training, deciding to get in by faking her transcripts. It didn't help that Cardin Winchester, the school's bully, had been wanting to get into her pants ever since day one. But thankfully she had struck a sisterly bond with Pyrrha, and since then had been helping her in getting better as a fighter.

She felt that it was her duty to live for Hayden. Perhaps someday she will see him again.

"Well, well, well…"

Joana froze at that the disgusting voice from behind. Slowly turning her head she saw Cardin looking at her like she was some delicious full-course meal. "What do you want, Cardin?"

"Oh come on, babe…" The orange haired leader of team CRDL sneered with glistening eyes as he listened to her speak in an accent that made him even more hungry for her. "That's no way to talk to your boyfriend…"

" _You_ are NOT my boyfriend!" The blonde hissed at him as she held the hilt of Crocea Mors tightly. "Why would I want to be with a disgusting _thing_ like you?"

Cardin frowned and stepped forward, but then stopped when she pointed her sword at him. "You better put that down…"

"No."

Cardin scoffed and stepped forward. He could visibly see that Joana's legs were shaking with fear.

Of course she would be afraid, she was alone in the forest… with Cardin of all people. And now he was going to try and have his way with her.

"You can't beat me in a fight, Joana… you know you can't."

"I… I can always try!"

The orange haired boy let out a hysterical laugh but never once released the vicious grin on his face, even after the blonde girl threw a jar of the red sap onto his chest. But before he could even sink his hands onto her the roar of an Ursa Major caught their attention.

Cardin paled at the sight when he realized that the large Grimm was looking at his sap ridden chest. No doubt the sweet scent of the red sap was attracting the bear-like creature. It slashed its sharp claws onto him and effortlessly knocked him a few metres away, sending him smashing onto the bark of a tree and incapacitating him.

Joana saw this and gritted her teeth, if she did nothing then the Ursa Major would surely kill him. _'Argh… damn you conscience!'_

She knew she was going to regret this as she came in between the Grimm and the unconscious form of Cardin Winchester. Raised her shield she grunted at the force of the creature's claw as it made contact with her shield, but because of the sheer force and the fact that she was still shaken up, she was sent flying to her left.

"Joan!" Her teammates Pyrrha and friends Ruby and Weiss came running and screamed her name.

Shaking her head, she looked up and saw the Ursa Major fast approaching, and with her on the ground and still disoriented by the blow, she found no time to get up. The others then tried to come to her aid but they were too far away.

" _Joana…"_

"Hayden…?" For some unknown reason she whispered the name of her long lost childhood friend after hearing a voice in her head. "HAYDEEEEEEEN!"

Dropping down from the sky was an armored man in white, black, and gold. He wielded a beautiful blood red katana with a Lotus-shaped crossguard. Plunging down he landed on the Grimm before it could make another strike and dug the blade deep into the beast's skull. The force of him landing on the Grimm had created a crater on the ground.

Time slowed for Joana as she looked at the beautiful armor her savior wore, the sword was just as beautiful and it looked like it was forged by a master craftsman.

And for some reason, the presence of this man felt familiar to her. And then it hit her…

There was an object attached to the hilt of the red katana… a keychain. A keychain in the shape of a tiny sword. It was in the shape of a tiny Crocea Mors.

There was only one person she could have ever given that keychain to.

" _ **I am Hayden… I am Tenno… bearer of the name of The First."**_

 **[Play Theme Song: Kokuhaku by Supercell]**

 **NA: And there you have it folks! Arc of the Crescent Blade revamped into something more thanks to Update 18. Hope you all enjoyed this!**

 **Yes, female Jaune is speaking in a French accent… because why not?**


	9. Heart Under the Blade

**NA: I just recently watched The Boy and the Beast… and I could not believe how amazing it was. Just like Wolf Children it is a movie comparable to Ghibli as it was filled with so much emotion. Watching it gave me an idea to a new take on Naruto as I actually saw similarities in terms of concept, not story. Naruto will always have a special place in my heart as it was the very first manga I had ever read, and no matter how hard I try it will always come back to me.**

 **This is a revival of the Tenno of the Leaf with a couple of tweaks and a new story. It will also be replacing Blacklight's reboot and whatnot.**

 **~oOo~**

An elderly man in a hooded cloak sat before a dozen children with a smile on his face. In his hands was an old book of several centuries old. It was a book like no other for it told of the legends of mythical warriors from the stars. The old man grunted happily and opened the old book with his wrinkly and calloused hands, turning to a page of a white and golden warrior with downward horns wielding a large sword reminiscent to that of a claymore. But the image showed the warrior wielding it like it was simply a longsword.

"Now children…" The man began as he eyed the book. "Can anyone tell me of the legend of the warriors who come from the stars?"

A child raised its hand.

"Yes?"

"My mommy tells me that they protect people." The child answered. "She even sings a song about them before I go to sleep. She says they are powerful warriors with lots of honor!"

The elder smiled and chuckled. "Yes… they are great warriors. Powerful masters of the art of Bujutsu, the 'Martial Way'. It is said that they come in the shadows and strike down those who have done wrong while helping those in need."

The children 'oohed' as their heads raised in a low nod.

"But beware their anger." The old man warned. "For when they are angered, it is very hard for them to stop until they are satisfied. They are warriors who thrive in battle, and they will never stop until all wickedness has been destroyed. But of course… the heart of man will always have wickedness within him."

"What does that mean, elder?" A little girl asked.

"It means that these great warriors will always be watching, and will always be listening." The elder leaned forward and smiled at them. "So children… always be good and never commit an act of wickedness… for if you do…"

The children listened carefully as the elder finished.

" _They_ will come." The elder concluded. "For they are…"

 **Heart beneath the Blade**

 **Chapter 1: Path in Life**

Remnant… it is said that it was home to what remained of an ancient empire that was lost to the ages. No one knew of the origin of this world, all they knew was that it was their home for many years. It was home to both Humans and the Faunus. The main continents are what made up of most of the world's society and civilization, and through them the people lived in an era of peace after so many conflicts that they had gone through in their history. But even then it was fragile. Long ago there was a war that engulfed all the continents as ideals of individuality and culture were jeopardized. A faction that nobody could remember wanted to be rid of it in order to create some sort of utopia of everlasting peace. In order to do that, they needed to abolish ideals, culture, religion, and more so that they could achieve that. In the end nobody really knew why the Great War was fought, and as it went on the faction had forgotten what they were fighting for and simply fought over other reasons. More ideals injected into the minds of people, the lust for conquest… and hate… hate was one of the primary reasons.

In the end a kingdom was destroyed while another took its place, and for a time peace reigned and the tradition of naming children after colors was born.

As for the Humans and the Faunus, they lived in constant wary of each other and discrimination was ever present among the populace. In the earlier years the Faunus were forced to live in the continent of Menagerie, only for them to rise up and fight. This had led to the Faunus War, or the Faunus Rights Revolution. It was a large-scale conflict that lasted three years and culminated in the rights for the Faunus to live freely.

But the discrimination had remained. And in the ashes of the war, the White Fang was formed. It was an organization that was originally meant to bridge the gap between Humans and Faunus. But ultimately they were forced to defend the rights of the Faunus people. They originally took to the classical form of nonviolent protests and boycotting organizations that discriminated their kind in any way. Then, approximately five years before the present day, after fruitless attempts to be accepted by the Humans as equals, the leader of the White Fang stepped down and was replaced by a new leadership who didn't share the same belief in nonviolent protest. Under this new leadership, the White Fang adopted its current violent and more aggressive behavior. Amongst the direct actions organized were the firebombing of stores that refused to serve Faunus and the theft or sabotage of cargo trains originating from organizations that used Faunus labor. Most of the time, these cargo trains carried dust from the Schnee Dust Company.

Under its new leadership, the White Fang retaliated against the people and organizations who once treated them as lesser beings and slaves. Ironically, in an attempt to gain equality and make the Faunus race free from fear, the White Fang itself has become a _cause_ of fear and hatred amongst Humans and Faunus alike.

Now the White Fang want nothing more than the destruction of 'human-dominated' society or perhaps even the destruction of the human race themselves.

But even then a small glimmer of hope had arisen among the ashes of war. Schools training huntsmen in the ways of slaying dark creatures known only as Grimm have arisen.

And thus leads to a small part of Remnant where a young boy – who became a man – found his own path in life, a path that led him to the stars and where he has discovered that Remnant wasn't the only place that had its own set of problems.

 **~oOo~**

Konoha, a large village within the hidden isles of Remnant, was a place known for producing very powerful huntsmen. It was a place where both Human and Faunus lived in harmony despite the world's blatant discrimination towards the latter. Here people lived in relative peace while its hunters slew any Grimm that got too close for comfort. It was also home to a family that held two famous huntsmen, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, respectively known as the Yellow Flash and the Red Death. The Uzumaki-Namikaze family were a family of huntsmen, and for generations these two clans – even before the two married – had produced excellent huntsmen. For many years they had protected the town against the forces of Grimm and any White Fang that dared try to disrupt the peace.

The Uzumaki-Namikaze is a famous family. There was no one in the world who had never heard of their exploits. The family was known to wield a special power inherited from Kushina's side of the family. A power called the Will of Fire. It was a power that would course through the user's body and create a flame that could burn through any defense, even Aura. It was a power that was both revered and feared by all, and all that who had went through it. It was not a Semblance as the Uzumaki clan called it a bloodline inheritance.

The Uzumaki-Namikaze family was a family of six, and was of course known to be the epitome of a happy family.

But that could not be said for one member of the family.

A young boy of ten with bright golden locks hid behind a doorway as his family was celebrating the birthday of the twins. He bore the faces of sadness, anger, resentment, and loneliness. Tonight was the twins' sixth birthday, and friends of the family had come over to celebrate. He let out a sigh and quietly made his way out of the house, making sure that nobody heard him. Once outside he made his way into the woods with a great sword twice his size, a large claymore type sword that he had secretly kept from his family for quite some time.

It was a sword he had found two years ago in this very forest. He had stumbled into a cave with strange writings until he was led into a sliding door that reacted to his touch. Within it was the great sword along with a strange looking armor with downward horns colored in white, black, and gold. When he touched it the armor then morphed into a single golden item that whenever he touched the button in the center, the armor would reappear. It was like the armor was simply being stored in some portable device for him to carry around. Though he was still too small to wear it since he was only a child.

The sword on the other hand was a challenge, but for the past two years he had been training with it, wildly swinging it like no tomorrow. And once again on this lonely night he would train how to wield this blade. Due to the sword's weight and the sheer size of it, all he could do was swing it in a huge arc. He grunted and swung it again, landing the edge of the blade to the ground on his left. He huffed and puffed as he swung the blade in upwards angle, letting out a loud grunt as he landed the blade to the ground in front of him. He continued on for an hour or two, wildly swinging the massive blade with reckless abandon. He didn't have anything better to do tonight so he just went to train.

Being by himself was something he had grown so accustomed to. Ever since the twins were born and were shown to have inherited the Uzumaki bloodline, his parents had shifted their attention to them. He was not fortunate enough to inherit it, and so he would barely get any attention from his parents. It's not that they were neglecting them, it's just that the prospect of two of their children inheriting the power had made them a priority. From what he had heard by chance, their godfather Jiraiya had told them of some prophecy that changed everything. And so he had begun distancing himself from his family.

But there was one thing he could not expect.

Five years ago a new addition of the family was born… a baby girl.

"Big brother?"

The blond turned his head to see a five year old red-haired girl holding a fox plushy.

"What are you doing out here?" The boy asked as he immediately laid the sword down. "It's not safe for you to be out here."

"Why out here?" The girl asked back. "There's party."

The blond smiled and patted the girl's crimson head. "I'm not much of a party person."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand." Kneeling down, he let out a sigh and kissed her forehead. "It's far too complicated for you."

The little girl saw a few tears welling in his eyes and moved to wipe them away. "Naru no cry."

He simply smiled and sniffled as he pulled the girl into a hug. _I wonder how much you understand, baby girl?_

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was a young warrior in the making, and with the personal training he had been doing all this time he had gotten stronger all on his own. He asked for no one's help and had done everything on his own. A friend of his called him a genius of hard work… perhaps that was true. But then there was the youngest child in the family. Naruto was a complete marshmallow when it came to her as she adored him like no other. The blond simply could not distance himself from someone who loved him so much.

Keeping his blade somewhere safe he followed his baby sister back inside and went up to his room where they did some coloring together, a blue crayon on his hand while the little one had a red one. Every night they enjoyed their time together, coloring little pictures on pieces of paper while their parents spent their time with the twins. Though the pain of being ignored by his parents was present, his baby sister whom adored him the greatest had helped alleviate that pain. It certainly helped that her first word was – much to everyone's surprise – Naru.

"How about this?" He asked as he colored a part of the picture she drew a nice blue.

"Mm!" The little red head nodded happily as she continued drawing a picture of her and her beloved older brother. No one else but them.

He didn't know how… but for some reason the little girl knew how lonely he felt all this time, and so focused all her time and effort on him. To her Naruto was everything she wants to become. Strong, independent, loving, kind… he was her role model.

"You and me!" The girl blurted out as they finished the drawing… along with other drawings of them together. Some of them were in a field of green grass, some on a mountain, parks, fountains, cities… the moon… all the little drawings they made from crayon were all about them and no one else.

Naruto nodded and kissed his baby sister's forehead. "Yeah that's us alright."

The girl giggled and sloppily kissed her brother's cheek. "Love you Naru!"

The blond simply wrapped his arms around her. "Love you too, baby girl."

Having fallen asleep on his bed he tucked her in and placed a blanket over her before heading out to get washed up. The moment he exited his room he spotted his mother standing before him. "Mother… is there something you need?"

"We missed you and Pyrrha at the party." Kushina said with a slightly worried look. "Everyone's left but we made sure to leave you two some food. Where were you?"

"We were just in my room." The eldest child replied. "Pyrrha and I were drawing and coloring, so there's nothing for you to worry about."

"Oh." Kushina felt a little awkward as this was the third time he had missed the twins' birthday. "Naru-chan…"

"I'm fine." He bluntly stated before turning away with his change of clothes and made his way to the bathroom.

"But-"

"I said I'm fine!" The blond snapped, causing the mother her to widen her eyes in shock.

"Naru-chan…"

Naruto pursed his lips and clenched his fist before entering the bathroom and locking the door behind him. He then sat down on the floor and leaned his back up against the door and sighed. Rubbing his head he stood back up and removed his clothing before entering the shower. It had been like this all the time… at first his parents would be worried before they would shift their attention back to the twins… it has always been like this… over and over again he would try to get some attention from his parents before he gave up and begun distancing himself from them.

Only little Pyrrha kept him from fully snapping at them.

Kushina stared at the bathroom door before shaking his head. _He must have had a tough day at school today… yeah that's probably it._

The next day was something Naruto would begin to dread. Outside in their home's backyard was his mother… showing the twins how to properly wield a sword.

 _She's…_ He began to cry in his mind. _She's teaching them…_

He had lost count on how many times he had asked his mother to teach him how to wield a sword, but every time he asked she would just tell him that she will teach him some other time or that she was far too busy. Either way she never taught him anything. Seeing the happy looks on the twins' faces only made him feel resentment towards him. Why did they have to be the special ones? Why didn't he inherit their family's power?

Seeing as his mother was busy focusing on his younger siblings he quietly made his way out into the forest and made his way to the same spot where he had hidden the sword. Just like always he had hidden it in a spot where no one could find as this place itself was a secluded area. Grunting at the weight of the sword he pulled it out and walked to the center.

"For one so young and small, you truly wish to master the art of the Galatine."

The blond turned his head to the sound of the voice and spotted a strange figure leaning on a tree. "W-What…"

"Peace child." The strangely armored man said as he raised his hand and approached him. "I do not come here as an enemy, but as a friend."

Naruto said nothing and just stared at the strange man who removed his helmet to reveal a young face with black hair and pale skin.

"I am Atton of Clan Viszla." The man said. "And I have been watching you for quite some time. Your determination for wielding such a sword is nothing short of amazing. Your stance needs work… but as you grow you will learn to wield the blade with ease, and I wish to aid you in that."

"Who…" The eldest child of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family opened his mouth. "Who are you?"

"Me?" Atton merely smiled as he leaned down. "I am a Tenno."

All Naruto knew was that his life would never be the same after this. For this man had shown him a path that will lead him to something great.

 **~oOo~**

 **One Year Later**

Once again Naruto escaped the confines of his home with his parents being busy as always and made his way into the forest where his master Atton was waiting. In a single year he had grown considerably and of course had gotten stronger in terms of strength. It was a lot easier for him to wield the Galatine and with just a little effort he could swing it with having the blade touched the ground.

The Tempo Royale, a style of great sword fighting that utilizes the user's body as a momentum, swinging the blade with breakneck speed. It uses graceful maneuvers, utilizing flips and overhead slashes to attain mobility, ultimately providing opportunities to finish off an opponent with devastating attacks. Swinging the blade with grace, he grunted and huffed with sweat pouring down his face. Though he had improved, he still had difficulty in other terms as the blade was still a heavy weapon to use. But it felt natural to him to use it. The Skana was of no difficulty to use when Atton showed him, it was a lightweight blade that used quick slashes like a katana. Though he could use the Skana like any Tenno initiate, it didn't feel natural to him like the Galatine did.

 _The boy has talent._ Atton thought to himself as he observed the young blond make his graceful leaps and slashes. _It is uncommon for a Tenno to begin with such an advanced weapon, but I see promise in this boy. A few more years and he can begin his path._

"That is enough today, my pupil." The Immortal Excalibur told him as Naruto had been training for hours without rest. "Do not strain yourself."

"Yes master."

Atton then sat down and motioned his pupil to join as some food was being prepared on a spit. Today they were having some deer. Naruto had come to enjoy having lunch with his master, and though he did not voice it he was the father he wished he had.

"It has been a year now, pupil."

"Yes it has, master."

It was a shock to Naruto when he found out that his mentor was more than fifteen hundred years old, one of the oldest and wisest Tenno in existence. Atton had explained to him that Tenno live eternally but that has yet to be proven as the life of a Tenno was a dangerous one. Naruto of course a Tenno as well ever since he made contact with the armor and sword, awakening his dormant Tenno powers. When he was younger he was mischievous, and he always pulled pranks on people. There was one time that he had pained the entire Hokage monument with red paint.

Atton told him that he would make an excellent Loki since he had an aptitude for tricks and deception. If his growth keeps on continuing on like this then he would be able to wear his Warframe when he hits the age of twelve or thirteen.

The Warframes… that was the exo-armor that he had found in that strange cave. His in particular was the ancient Loki Prime from which all Loki Warframes were derived from. The Prime Warframes were the originals that the ancient Orokin Empire had built long ago.

In the olden days of the Orokin Empire the Tenno had founded schools to control their power.

Long ago an exploration ship called the Zariman disappeared when an accident catapulted the ship and its crew to the Void. Years later the ship reappeared, but all that was left were the children of its crew, leaving them orphaned. A woman by the name of Margulis sought to protect these children even though the Orokin wished for them to be destroyed out of fear that they could be too powerful. They viewed them as abominations, unworthy to be even called human.

Margulis saw them as more than human, and thus she gave her life to save them so that instead of being destroyed, they could serve the empire.

Once the Zariman orphans could be saved, their powers were able to be passed on to others who wished to be bound by honor. Many more had become Tenno through the Void… but many more became hated for what they are. Though they served the Orokin… many of those they had sworn to protect scorned and feared them because of their great and devastating power.

The first of these schools was the Vazarin way. They trained to counter the enemy and moved with an opponent's attacks in order to nullify them. This school taught their students to maintain constant awareness in order to defend against all aggression.

The second was Zenurik. They believed that the clearest path to victory was to dominate the enemy. They sought to choke an opponent of all resources; that sheer strength could destroy enemy resistance.

Then there was Naramon. To know one's enemy and that to truly understand a foe would confer the greatest advantage upon a warrior.

Madurai... Disciples of this school followed the path of facing the enemy head on. Their swift, uncompromising onslaught, holding nothing back and recklessly attacking their foes, could vanquish an opponent before they could get the chance to steel themselves. Speed and savagery categorized this school.

And finally, the Unairu… Disciples of this path pushed their bodies to the limit with their goal to outlast the enemy and withstand all aggression without retreat. They believed that if their enemy could not match their endurance, then a battle could be won without having even commenced. This was Naruto's way… for he had continued to endure the loneliness and darkness in his heart. He would push his body to its limits so that he could get stronger. His friend called him a genius of hard work, and Atton agreed with that. His boundless endurance can only be matched by his sheer will to work even harder.

"How is your family, pupil?"

Naruto bit his lip and looked down. "They are… fine, master."

Atton's brows creased downwards as he gazed at his pupil's impassive look. "Naruto… you should not distance yourself from your family. We Tenno greatly value family. To sever the bond you have with your family means to sever a great part of you. Do not let the darkness in your heart take over."

The blond winced as he let a single tear roll down his face. "It hurts master."

"I know, child." To his own surprise the Tenno pulled the boy into a gentle hug. "Do not let this sorrow rule you."

Atton had been a father long ago and watched his children and their children, and their children's children grow up and become great Tenno. He was proud to have fathered a family so great. But then he looks at this child and sees a family that could break any moment. Family and strong bonds are the pillars of Tenno society. That is why clans exist in their society as it strengthens the bonds of one another.

 _Oh Void… heal what bonds this child has lest with his family._

"Wow!"

The two Tenno got on high alert when they heard the voice from behind and spotted a certain red head with stars in her eyes as she eyed the sword stabbed onto the ground.

"Pyrrha!?"

The little girl giggled and ran up to the blond, placing her little arms around him. "I found big brother!"

"How did you…"

"You always go into the forest and I wanted to find you so I went because I wanted to give you this." She raised a little ribbon of red and white. "I made it in school today!"

Naruto gratefully took the ribbon and kissed her cheek, earning another giggle from her. "Thanks baby girl."

Pyrrha turned her head and looked at the Excalibur. "Hi, I'm Pyrrha!"

Atton simply smiled at the girl's innocence. "And hell to you too, little one."

 _Perhaps his bond with his sister is what keeps him afloat._

 **~oOo~**

 **ThreeYears Later**

Nine year old Pyrrha Uzumaki-Namikaze held a glass of milk in her hands and gently drank while sitting beside her dearest eldest sibling. It was already close to noon but she decided to wake up late since she didn't have any school today, and of course the first thing that she thought of was food. Apparently Naruto had finished his schoolwork early today and decided to just spend the day with his little sister. For some reason he was a little bit more affectionate today but of course she didn't mind.

A lot has changed since four years ago.

Mito and Menma, the twins, were now ten years old and were well on their through their huntsman classes, and to no surprise they were considered prodigies in their own right. But the one who had taken a drastic change in personality was Naruto. Since four years ago he had gotten a lot quieter and more mature even for his age. Everyone in the village had noticed that he was somewhat distant towards his family… but was of course never distant towards Pyrrha.

"Hey…" Naruto chuckled as he wiped his baby sister's face. "Don't make a mess."

"Nooo!" Pyrrha whined as she felt the tissue glide of her messy mouth. "I'm a big girl now, Naru!"

The blond grinned and planted a kiss on her head. "You'll always be my baby sister, baby girl."

Pyrrha simply continued to pout at how she was being babied. She's a big girl now, she doesn't need to be babied!

"So I'm guessing the folks are out?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Mother and father are out with Mito and Menma, probably teaching them and whatnot."

Naruto nodded as his face held no emotion for a moment. "I see."

"Big brother…"

"It's fine, baby girl. It's fine."

Pyrrha had finally realized why her eldest brother had become so distant towards the family. He did not inherit the Will of Fire like she and the twins did. To her knowledge because he did not inherit he could not become a proper clan heir. She did not know exactly why but she figured there was something deeper than that, something she did not know. She wanted to voice out her concerns but Naruto would not let her, telling her that she should let them figure it out on their own. It angered her that their parents have pushed her dear brother aside. What had gotten a little hectic was the constant fighting between the brothers, Menma would often get angered as to why Naruto would resent him with the latter not saying anything or simply tell him "I have nothing to say to you." angering Menma even more. More often than not it would lead to fist fights with both sisters screaming at them to stop. It only made it worse that Menma had been declared the heir, further adding fuel to the fire when he would call Naruto a worthless failure out of spite, causing more violent fights between brothers.

Minato and Kushina would often ask what was wrong with him, but all Naruto would do was snap at them, saying that he was fine before storming into his room. To add insult to injury he would be the one who would be punished for his actions, often grounded for periods of time, while all Menma got was a slap on the wrist. The relationship between eldest child and his family, except Pyrrha, would be further strained because of this.

Pyrrha would then tell him that they should let their parents know… but Naruto feared that it would just lead to even more fights. It was already painful for her that the status of clan heir had been stripped from him.

Naruto did not mind that he lost the right to becoming the clan heir… he cared not for political power as he told Pyrrha that it can corrupt people. What he did care for was personal strength and the strength of those around him, Pyrrha was his most treasured little sister… she was his source of strength.

The two siblings had gone on out for the day, spending time together and enjoying the little things. Their father is Hokage and that meant that people had respected them because of their father's exploits, but that mattered little to them as they wished to strike it out and make a name for themselves someday.

Together the siblings went to several shopping stalls and played several games, from simple throwing balls at bottles to shooting pop guns at targets, all with prizes to win. They had lost count on how many games they won, but Pyrrha would be coming home half a dozen stuffed animals… most of them being fox plushies.

But Pyrrha could not help but feel some sort of omen as the wind blew pass her hair. Looking up she saw the sun set and felt some sort of dread.

"Pyrrha…" Naruto's voice became slightly sad as they walked back to their home. "You've been my reason for remaining what I am."

"B-Big brother?"

"You're the best little sister a brother could ever ask for."

"N-Naru… you're scaring me."

"Baby girl…" He whispered. He clamped down on her shoulders, causing her to shiver as something was definitely wrong. "Promise me you'll become the best huntress you can be. Promise me that you will make many friends. As your eldest brother I only want the best for you."

She then nodded hesitantly, feeling the slight desperation in her older brother's voice.

"Come on." Naruto shook his head. "Your older brother is acting silly again."

Once they had reached their home they were met with concerned looks from their parents, more so their mother.

"Where were you two?"

"I took her out, mother." Naruto answered as he showed them the prizes he won for Pyrrha. "Just some quality time with my baby sister."

Menma scoffed and walked to his room when he heard his words. This caused Minato to sigh as the relationship of the family the eldest child had become strained. What they could not find out was why it had become this. Why had Naruto begun distancing himself away from his parents and twin siblings? Why had he begun to favor his baby sister more? Why would he resent Menma and Mito despite the latter being somewhat clingy with him? Why was he so secretive?

What could have possibly caused him to be the way he is now?

"We've already eaten so don't worry about dinner for us."

"A-Alright." Kushian bit her lip at the fierce gaze of her eldest son.

It was already late and Pyrrha was tired from the fun day she had. One thing she always enjoyed though was having Naruto tuck her into bed. After getting washed up she lay on her bed and received a kiss on her forehead.

"Goodnight baby girl."

"Night Naru… I love you."

"I love you too."

Closing her eyes and letting her tiredness take over, she drifted off into sleep. Naruto looked down and smiled at her innocent face. She looked a sleeping princess, and in his eyes that is exactly what she is. His little princess.

"Live a happy life, Pyrrha." He tearfully whispered as he placed a letter on her side table. "Live your life to the fullest."

Turning around and closing the door behind him, he went back into his room and opened to see the several boxes filled with his belongings. Using a device his master gave him he placed them over the boxes and seemingly turned them into pixels before being sucked into the device like a vacuum. Looking around he saw his now barren room with only the bed and the table left. He walked over to his closet and grabbed the storage unit that kept his Warframe. He was fourteen now, and thanks to the growth spurt that he had gotten he was now able to wear the Loki Prime Warframe.

He didn't have an armory so putting on the set of armor took time, but thanks to Atton's teachings he had put it on in record time. To his side were a pair of Dex Furis automatic pistols that had been gifted to him by someone known only as the Lotus. And of course on his back was his mighty Galatine, which he had been training with for years.

Today he was going to become a fully-fledged Tenno.

But that meant leaving the nest with only a letter to tell his family goodbye… this he had entrusted his most beloved little sister with that letter.

Opening the window, he made his way out of the house and deep into the forest where his master is waiting.

 **~oOo~**

"You have made your decision." Atton stated as he was finally seeing his pupil in full armor.

Naruto nodded as he looked at his mentor. "It's for the best. Where will we be going, master?"

"A land hidden past the Darklands to the north. There is an ancient Tenno temple located high up in a mountain, away from the dangers of the Grimm and whatever threats this world may possess. The path is perilous… but nothing two Tenno can't handle. Are you ready?"

The blond Loki Prime nodded and put on his helmet. "Yes master."

 **~oOo~**

Pyrrha woke up with a start. Her eyes darted around as sweat went down her face. Looking at her table she spotted the envelope. It was then she began to realize why Naruto had begun to act the way he had been acting.

 _No… no please… Oum no…_

Shakily taking the envelope, she opened it and read its contents. And as she read…

The youngest of the four then darted out of her room and into her brother's room. But what she found, or what she didn't find, caused the dam to finally break.

"No…" The red head whimpered her tears had formed a tiny puddle on the floor. "MOTHER! FATHER!"

 **~oOo~**

 **Eight Years Later**

 **Beacon Academy, Kingdom of Vale**

As her teammates slept, Pyrrha sat on her bed with a diary and pen in her hand. Today was her first night as a member of team JNPR and she could not be happier with how everything turned out. Lowering the tip of the pen on the empty page of her diary, she began to write.

 _ **Dear diary,**_

 _ **This is my first and everything went great today, yay! I am finally here as an official student of Beacon and with my new team, JNPR. Our leader is a somewhat lacking but he does have determination. And what's great is that he doesn't know who I am! Can you believe that? He does not know who I am and what I've accomplished. I am so happy that I actually made a genuine friend in him.**_

 _ **And he's cute too… he kind of reminds me of big brother Naru… I mean he's just so determined to become a huntsman despite not having any real training.**_

 _ **Oh Oum… I think I have a brother complex.**_

 _ **Anyways, his name is Jaune Arc, and has seven sisters… can you believe that?**_

 _ **But yeah… he's just so determined to accomplish his goals, and I admire him for that. He's my first real friend… a friend who does not know anything about me or my celebrity status.**_

Letting out a sigh, her face then became solemn as she continued writing.

 _ **It's been eight years now… eight years since he left home to Oum knows where. Things hadn't been great for during that month. Mother and father started fighting, and Menma's superiority complex and ego inflated even further. Mito and I didn't know what to do as we couldn't stop crying, she especially kept on saying sorry to a picture of Naru. Everything just went downhill from there as my parents wouldn't stop fighting. They would yell at each other whenever they fought. Mother just couldn't take it as she started to lay some blame on father for believing Jiraiya about some prophecy while father would try and justify that it was for the greater good.**_

 _ **Who was right and who was wrong? I don't know anymore…**_

 _ **By the end of the month they signed the divorce papers, splitting our family apart. Mother got hold of my custody while father got the twins. Mother and I moved to Mistral, far away as possible while the others remained in Konoha. Mother decided to adopt her mother's maiden name of Nikos as she had enough of clan politics… I too decided to take the name.**_

 _ **To our surprise Auntie Tsunade and big sister Shizune followed us.**_

 _ **Things just hadn't been the same since he left… but in some mysterious way I saw it coming. I guess my big brother Naru just had enough and gave up on them wanting to realize their mistakes.**_

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she wiped a single tear before it managed to fall off of her cheek.

 _ **Oh big brother… I wish you were there… you always knew what to do.**_

 _ **I wish you were here.**_

 _ **Since then I made up on my promise and got stronger. I trained every day and managed to forge my own set of weapons with the help of mother. I won the Mistral Regionals four times in a row and even got to put my face on a cereal box that Jaune really likes… unfortunately the cereal isn't healthy.**_

 _ **Jaune is a really nice guy and has a natural skill for tactics. I guess that is why Professor Ozpin put him as our leader.**_

 _ **And I am okay with that.**_

 _ **Sincerely Yours,**_

 _ **Pyrrha Nikos**_

Closing the diary with a sad smile on her face, she exhaled and secured the little diary under her pillow before gently her head down on the pillow.

 **NA: Yep… things had just gotten sour for the family. But things like that can happen.**

 **So there you have it! Hope you all enjoyed it.**

 **I will be gone for the next three weeks as I will be out of the country for some much needed vacation.**


End file.
